


Moonlight Serenade

by Garish_Flower



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood, Dirty Talk, Dirty Talking Bucky Barnes, F/M, Injury, Kidnapped, Rough Sex, Self-Doubt, Smut, Torture, curvy character, plus size character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-05-23 05:00:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14927600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garish_Flower/pseuds/Garish_Flower
Summary: The stars are aglowAnd tonight how their light sets me dreamingMy love, do you knowThat your eyes are like stars brightly beaming?I bring you, and sing youA moonlight serenade





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends,
> 
> I wanted to get something up for my Bucky fic I am starting. Let me know what you think; personally, I feel like Buck would like a nice curvy girl, you know? Idk as a plus size girl, I love reading fics with characters I can relate to.
> 
> Anyways. I'll try to finish my first real chapter for this. I kind of hate it right now so I'm going to edit it and hopefully have it up Sunday night.

Poland - 2014

Deadshot looked down the scope of her rifle, she was 470 yards away from her target, she was a freelance assassin. Most found her on the black market or found her through a friend of a friend and contracted her for a job. She didn’t know the man’s name, only what his wife told her. That for years he had been beating her senseless and needed someone to take care of him because every time she would leave he would find her and their children.

Not totally heartless, Deadshot had two requirements for when she went on contracted kills, the first being that there had to be a real reason to end this person’s life, she wouldn’t kill any poor shmuck. The second being that she did not harm children.

With the target’s face lined up in her cross hairs she took in a deep breath and held it as she pulled the trigger. All that could be heard was the sound of the bullet whistling as it left the barrel of her gun. She watched as the man crumpled with a small neat circle in between his eyes. On less piece of shit plaguing society.

Deadshot quietly took apart her rifle and placed it in her black duffle bag to hide suspicion as she left her hotel room. She walked to her car at the top of the parking garage, it was late and she was the only car parked there. “Alma Pavlov?” a voice called from behind her.

Deadshot froze and turned around “I’m sorry?” She asked,

“Ms. Pavlov, we need your help with something.” Deadshot looked the man talking to her up and down. He was a tall black man with an eye patch.

“I don’t know an Alma Pavlov.” She loaded her things into the trunk of her car with one hand while keeping her other hand on the gun in her coat pocket.

“You and I both know that that is a lie, Deadshot.” Deadshot’s palms felt sweaty. When she wasn’t busy being an assassin she was Alma Pavlov, Poland native. They were two very different people.

“Who are you?” Alma asked.

“Nick Fury. Like I said we need your help, I understand you are very good at tracking people down.” He said walking closer disregarding the fact that he knew she had a gun in her pocket and was ready to shoot at any moment. 

It was true, Alma was able to find a person just by the color of their hair and the size of their shoe. “How much you got and what’d they do?” She asked, she was mostly in the business for the money and moral compass.

 “I can pay you in not turning you into the Interpol and giving you, a job working with the avengers. This man has a metal arm and is called the Winter Soldier, he is trying to assassinate me.” Fury continued on.

Alma had heard of the Winter Soldier before, he intrigued her but what was less interesting to her was working for him, she preferred to work alone that way the only person at risk of getting hurt was herself. “I’ll find him for you. Give me three days.”

Fury turned and began to walk away “You have two, I want you in New York with the information at 8 pm sharp. I’ll give you an address when the time comes.” He called behind him.

Alma frowned, she had been avoiding New York for ages. That was the area her family moved to when the migrated to the United States, she had long since left after rumors of her secret identity began rise. But before she could protest Fury was gone. She quickly made her way to her study apartment in Warsaw and opened her laptop. Her apartment was bare except for her utilities, bed, and a kitchen table with two chairs and over her windows were black out curtains. She sipped her black coffee as she looked through various different secure sites and on black market websites. It never ceased to amaze her how many people thought their information or the people that worked for them were secure. Frowning, Alma looked down at her watch she had been at this research for the better part of five hours and wasn’t able to find much other than the legend there was already uploaded on reddit.

It wasn’t until she found when he first started to become active in late 1940 that things began to get interesting.

Despite not being due in New York for another 24 hours, Alma booked her flight a day early and got the address to god knows where. By booking a flight she meant illegally flying to the United States via her friend’s cargo plane, she needed to do this in order to get her various weaponry through security. After the landing in the cramped little cargo plane she booked it to the address which was located at the SHIELD dam facility.

When Alma entered she was greeted by Nick Fury, who was in a hospital bed from being shot by the Winter Soldier. She threw her intelligence onto his lap and he looked up at her “You’re early.” He said going through the various files containing as much as she could find on Sargent James Buchanan Barnes or the Winter Soldier.

               


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends, I am having some terrible writer's block with my Peter Parker fic so I started writing this one. I always feel like there isn't enough love for us plus size girls out there.
> 
> So without further ado, I bring you the first official chapter of my Bucky fic. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy it! I love seeing your comments

When Alma awoke she was blinded by the brightness in the room and her head was throbbing “Look who’s awake!” She heard a voice shout.

She brought her arm up to rub her eyes and was met with a searing pain in her side. After blinking a few times and focusing her eyes she looked around and was in a hospital room. She looked to her side and saw Tony sitting near her bed along with Steve. “What happened?” She asked.“Well, what’s the last thing you remember?” Steve asked.

Alma thought hard, “All I remember is lining up my shot.” She said her head began to throb from thinking.

“Well, the Manchurian Candidate stabbed your side with a 12-inch-long blade. You’re lucky to be alive.” Tony said giving Steve some nasty side eye.

It suddenly all rushed back towards her like she was hit by the New York Subway. She remembered Bucky being triggered by Zemo. She was stationed to watch the doors due to the threat of terrorism, Tony had in listed in her help for building security after the bombing. She had Zemo lined up in her crosshairs and when searing pain and then black.

Steve and Tony caught her up with what had happened in her two weeks in the hospital. The Sokovia Accords, the fight between Steve and Tony which still had underlying tension, how Bucky had begun to work towards getting better. Despite only being out for 14 days it seemed like she had missed all the action.

Tony excused himself to take a phone call and Steve looked at Alma “Buck feels really bad about what he did.” He said looking down at his hands.

Alma shrugged her shoulders “It’s fine, he couldn’t help it.” She winced and looked down at her bandage “At least I’ll have a cool scar.” She grinned.  

-

Narrowing her eyes on the target Alma exhaled deeply and watched through her scope waiting at any moment to shoot, after 3 months of physical therapy and recovery she was finally cleared for field work. Or they were probably sick of her moping around the compound bored out of her mind. Her crosshairs were aimed at a certain Doctor Landon Dred a man tracking former SHIELD agents and killing them “Okay Deadshot lets go,” her agent name knocked her out of her focus.

“I’m trying to focus, shut up.” She hissed into her earpiece. She was nearly 300 yards away from where the rest of the team was located and fighting. She let out a shaky breath and recomposed herself moving her scope to see where each of the team members were, Stark and Vision were flying around the headquarters along with Sam taking care of air support, Clint, was perched on top of a building taking care of close range sniper attacks with his bow, Steve, Nat, Thor, and Banner were taking care of hand to hand combat on the ground, Wanda was doing her magic and working as a defensive force for the team, and Bucky was caught somewhere in the middle of a gun battle and hand to hand combat like usual.

Once her vision was cleared she held her breath like she did every other time she got ready to take a life and aimed the crosshairs at Dr. Dred and pulled. Within seconds he grasped his neck and collapsed with his henchmen looking around frantically, she released the breath she had been holding, “Pull out, come on guys, you know what’s coming.” She said quickly dismantling her rifle and putting it in her crisp black bag, she looked at their small figures fleeting from the area.

“We've cleared 10 blocks it’s a go,” Cap said into her earpiece. Alma quickly pulled out a small button from her pants pocket and pressed it. Soon 4 loud explosions ripped through Dr. Dred’s headquarters reducing it to nothing but skeletal remains and rubble. Along with being the team’s long-range sniper, she was also their resident explosives expert. She usually worked people through defusing bombs in her downtime when she wasn’t working with the Avengers under her agent name Deadshot. Otherwise, she was just Alma Rosini a 29-year-old New Yorker.

Meeting at the rendezvous point Alma was met with friendly pats on the back from her fellow Avengers “Nice work Alms.” Nat said grinning.

Alma shrugged and smiled shyly “It’s nothing.” She said as they headed back towards the jet Tony had FRIDAY call for them. Alma and the others loaded into the quinjet and plopped down in her usual seat next to Steve and Nat.

Clint smirked towards her “Must be nice not breaking a sweat and getting the shit kicked out of you.” This earned a laugh from Tony and Sam.

Alma rolled her eyes “Ha, ha,” She mocked “I know you know more than anyone that all of the focus and nerves of making a shot make me sweat just as much as you do. I just don’t smell as bad.” She retorted. “But I do enjoy getting out with no bruises.” She grinned

“Yeah, I’m sure we’d hate to see something mess up that pretty face.” Bucky shot Alma a charming grin. They always partook in harmless flirting, however, everyone else on the team could see that there was something more in their playful banter

Seeing Bucky start from trying to kill them and slowly recovering from his past as a Hydra sleeper was a fascinating development to say the least. Alma could see the person that Steve had talked so fondly about from the past coming into view. Alma’s face turned a fiery color of red at Bucky’s comment and she muttered something along the lines of shut up at him.

The rest of the ride was spent sleeping or playing card games, most of the time Vision would win even though every protested to him joining in the game. Within hours they landed and drug their achy bodies to the inside of the compound. Alma walked to her locker and put her rifle bag away along with the rest of her gear and eagerly headed up to her room for a long-needed shower. However, most of the Avengers were not a lucky, Nat, Steve, and Clint were shipped off to another location in Romania trying to gather intel on the remaining Hydra members that had gone under the grid. Bucky, who usually went along with where ever Steve went was stuck behind because they didn’t want to risk anything setting back his progress. Alma never went on to reconnaissance missions unless the person they were watching ended up needing to be sniped or blown up, so she too was stuck behind with Bruce, Tony, Wanda, Vision, and Thor.

Alma laid in her bed and stretched long letting her back crack. She sighed in relief, being a sniper had its benefits but the constantly uncomfortable angles she had to sit or lay in did numbers on her back. Within minutes she had fallen into a deep sleep. She woke in a cold sweat to the sound of pounding and thrashing in the room next to her. Alma stood up only in her thin tank top and sleep shorts and grabbed the small handgun in her nightstand drawer. It sounded like furniture was being moved and she could hear muffled yelling. Alma touched the door handle and opened it holding her gun up in defense. She quickly dropped it when she realized it was Bucky having a nightmare, usually, Steve was the one to take care of these things because he was the least likely to get hurt.

Alma cautiously walked towards Bucky’s thrashing body. His sheets were drenched with sweat and his arm was whirring out of stress. “Bucky?” Alma said walking closer, she could see the faint glow of the electrical units that ran through his arm poking through the grooves. She reached a hand to his face and it was grasped tightly in his metal arm the coolness nipping against her flesh “Bucky!” She said louder. His grip tightened and his brows furrowed in his sleep. Alma winced at the bruising pressure around her wrist “James!” she squeaked with tears pricking against her eyes. She sighed biting her lip in pain and brought a hand across Bucky’s face. His eyes shot open and he sat up as the crack of her slapping him hung in the air.

“Do you know who you are?” Alma asked ready to defend herself at any moment, but she knew if Bucky wasn’t here there wouldn’t be much she could do.

James looked down and saw him gripping Alma’s wrist and quickly let go of it “Alma, I’m sorry.” He said with his voice raspy with sleep.

Alma looked down at her arm which was turning a pretty shade of purple and shrugged her arms “Don’t worry nothing is broken.” She said and sat on the side of his bed.

Bucky swallowed thickly and ran his hand through his sweaty hair and looked at Alma, this was the skimpiest thing he’d ever seen her in. He could see her nipples on her ample breasts poking through her thin tank top and the bottom of her ass through her shorts. He felt uncomfortable thinking about her in that way but couldn’t help himself. Breaking the thick tension in the air Bucky spoke: “Usually Steve is here to help.” He said and coughed awkwardly and looked away from her.

Alma nodded her head “Yeah, but I don’t think he’ll be back for a few days, so it looks like it’ll be me coming in here.” She smiled softly at Bucky admiring his well sculpted chest. She scanned her eyes over his chest and was met with the angry scaring that was where his arm was fused to his shoulder. “You should probably try and get some more rest.” She said and stood up, something told her to stay and comfort him, but she ignored it.

“Yeah, I guess I probably should.” Bucky looked down at his messy bedsheets and frowned to himself, he knew he wasn’t going to sleep any time soon.

In the morning Tony called Alma and Bucky into a meeting room “You need to go and meet Steve, Nat, and Clint in Romania as soon as possible.”

Alma crossed her arms over her chest “Why? I don’t go on recon and it’s too dangerous for Bucky to go.”

Tony frowned “The place is rigged, they need someone to defuse the explosives and keep watch on their sniper.” He threw a file on the table, it had several profiles of Hydra’s remaining members “Apparently Dr. Dred was one of their people, so they aren’t too thrilled.”

Alma sighed and looked over at Bucky who was intently scanning over the file and chewing on his lip nervously. She could tell that these were some of the people who had hurt him just by the look on his face. “5 minutes, lets’ go,” Bucky said and got up to walk to his room.

Quickly Alma followed him out the door towards their neighboring rooms “Buck, are you okay?” she asked lightly grasping the back of his arm.

He flinched at the touch and turned “Yeah, I’m fine.” He said and walked into his room grabbing his go bag. Alma quickly followed him her short legs falling behind his long strides as they headed towards one of Stark’s small jets. The flight took 12 hours, Alma slept while Bucky continued to study the files and the people in them.

Upon landing they met Nat, Clint, and Steve at their secure location “So why were we called here on what was supposed to be our day off?” Alma was less than thrilled, and still sore from their last mission.

“The entire compound is surrounded by a minefield and their snipers are targeting us.” Nat was also less than thrilled, what was supposed to be a simple information gathering mission had turned into calling in extra help so they could safely enter the building.

Alma chewed on her lip and sighed “Alright, take me there when it’s dark.” She looked at Steve who looked exhausted “I’m going to need you to come with, your shield is the only thing that could save us if something goes wrong. Clint I’ll need you to come with and act as a lookout, I won’t be on my scope to be doing it.” She looked at the clock hanging on the bare walls and frowned, they only had an hour until nightfall.

Quickly she got dressed in her field gear which wasn’t anything terribly exciting, an all-black jumpsuit with some combat boots for comfort and optimal movement. They quickly loaded into their sleek black SUV and headed to the compound. Clint stayed back and found higher ground to keep watch while Steve and Alma walked through the dense forest surrounding it.

Little red blinking lights littered the ground.

Alma let out a puff of air “Holy shit, there is a lot.” She said and carefully knelt down in front of the first mine. Carefully she knelt down within feet of a trip wire and followed it to the explosives that were hooked up to it. It reminded her of the bombs she would defuse in Bosnia. While she was familiar with the make of them, she still needed to be careful. Being relaxed in these situations would lead to limbs being blown off.

She dug around in her pockets finding her wire cutters “Steve if this goes off, I want you to put the shield over my hands.” She looked up at Steve, he opened his mouth to protest “Losing my hands will be much better than losing our lives.” Alma knew full well what the risks in this field of work were. Steve nodded his head in agreement and remained silent so Alma could work her magic.

She flipped the hood of her mask down, it was something special that Tony designed for her. It allowed Alma to zoom in on different areas and run probability on outcomes as well as running an image recognition for the type of explosive it was. She carefully assessed the area and nervously chewed on her lip as she scanned over the different colorful wires; red, green, blue, yellow, black, and white. One would save them; the rest would trigger an explosion.

“FRIDAY I need you to run probability on the yellow and white wires as well as image recognition.” She said while trying to hold her breath.

“Yellow yields a 27% chance of success and white yields a 62% chance.” The AI answered.

Alma nodded her head, she knew by how the device was set up it could have been either of the wires. She could feel Steve’s eyes on her back and felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of her face as she reached her steady hand and clipped the white wire. She let out the breath she had unknowingly been holding after it did not detonate. “It’s going to take too long to defuse all of these Steve,” Alma said while cutting the trip wire and removing it completely “We have to just set them all off. I can look through the area for any more booby traps, but I can’t go through and manually defuse all of these, there have to be thousands of them.”

Steve nodded his head in agreement “You’re right, we don’t have time for that,” Steve listened on his earpiece “Clint says there are guards circling the perimeter. They’ll be here in 12 minutes.” Steve reached for his shield and watched Alma run off to find the rest of the booby traps in the area surrounding the minefield.

Alma had found six trip wires, three spike traps and two fall pits that surrounded the area that they would be entering in the morning, she had also managed to avoid being noticed by the guards patrolling the area. Quickly a few hours later she met back up with Steve and Clint at the car and explained the layout and what she had disarmed.

She was exhausted and covered in dirt and grease from being in the forest and working with all of the explosive equipment and her hair was messy from her protective helmet. When she arrived at their safe house she immediately went into the bathroom and stripped for the shower. The water ran off her body and was a murky grey color from the filth being washed away. Alma had never felt more relaxed, despite sleeping for almost their entire flight, she felt as though she could sleep for another 12 hours; however, tomorrow would be another busy day for them. They needed to plan how they would detonate the landmines and also enter unnoticed.

For now, her task was to figure out where she would be sleeping as there were only enough beds for Nat, Clint, Steve and one other person. Bucky had offered to take the couch so that Alma could have the bed, but she felt bad for making him sleep on the couch. “Isn’t there a cot in here?” She said frowning.

Clint shrugged “You’d think Stark would stock these full of everything,”

Alma nodded in agreement “Are you sure you don’t want the bed?” She asked.

Buck nodded his head “Yeah sleeping on the couch won’t be too bad.” Bucky didn’t sleep more than a maximum of 3 hours a night anyway.

Alma frowned in defeat and got herself ready for bed. The sooner she got to sleep, the more rested she could feel tomorrow’s fight.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Talks of child soldiers, war, fluff, angst, self-doubt, low self-esteem 
> 
> Also, I don't know anything about being an explosives expert, this is all just my imagination, so I'm sorry if it's not accurate.

Alma woke up early the next morning and walked to the kitchen after finishing up, getting ready for their mission to storm the compound. She immediately went to the coffee maker careful to not make very much noise as Bucky was still sleeping.

The smell of dark roast coffee soon filled the house, Alma sat at the table and quietly looked through the building schematics to find where the best vantage point would be for her to sit and keep watch and sipping her black coffee, “Oh, you made me some coffee? You really shouldn’t have doll face.”

Alma jumped at the sudden voice and turned around, she was greeted with a sleepy-eyed Bucky “Sorry I didn’t mean to wake you.” She said softly.  

Bucky shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup “Don’t worry, I wasn’t sleeping anyway.”

Alma let out a small laugh “I’d drink up, it’s going to be a long day today.” She sighed thinking about how physically and mentally exhausted they would be when they came back.

Bucky nodded his head “Yeah, but it’ll be nice knowing that Hydra will finally be taken down.”

Alma opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a line of the remaining members of their team, they were all dressed and ready to go and finish up their mission.

Clint got started on making breakfast for everyone, he was adamant that it was one of the most important parts of working as a team; while Steve and Nat started to plan on what their strategy was for storming.

“So, Alma suggested that we send in a few dummy cars to clear the path for us to safely get into the compound,” Steve said pointing at the minefield on the map.

Nat leaned back in her chair “If we do that we completely lose the element of surprise.”

Steve shrugged “What’s more important? Getting into the compound in one piece, or trying to navigate the field?”

Alma grabbed the map and looked at it, pointing out where the various tripwires were “The entire compound was surrounded by several booby traps, I took care of most of them in the surrounding area that we will be coming in from.” She shoved the map towards Steve “I can’t promise that the area will still be secure, they may have noticed a few are gone.”

Steve nodded in agreement “Keep an eye on where you step especially in this area if you notice something call over Alma and I and we will work on taking down the traps.”

After finishing their breakfast together like Clint had insisted, the crew loaded into three cars and drove towards the compound. “Okay Steve, we’re ready for the first dummy car,” Alma said into her earpiece.

Steve called back saying it had been sent and made it through a third of the way before becoming completely blown to pieces. At this point the guards in the compound were on high alert, waiting to see what would come out of the tree line. They sent the remaining two trucks through and were able to push through most of the way “Clint and I can take care of the last few.” Alma said.

She and Clint were stationed at opposite sides of each other, while Clint shot out a few explosive arrows that took care of a vast majority of triggering the remaining explosives Alma followed with shooting out the last few individually. “I cleared a watch tower for you, Alms.” She heard Nat say over her earpiece.

“Thanks, Nat,” Alma said jumping down from her position and running towards Natasha’s location. She quickly made her way up into the tower and set up her sniper rifle, it wasn’t the ideal position but it allowed her to have a decent view of the top row of shooters. She slowly started to pick them off one by one to clear the path for Steve, Nat, Buck, and Clint to enter safely. “I’m going to try and shoot out their sniper,” Alma said, silently hoping that Hydra’s snipers would be messier than she was and reveal themselves.

From in front of her station, Alma could see Nat, Bucky, and Steve fighting off the various guards that blocked their path with the east. She knew that these were just peons and that the tougher battle had yet to come. Within minutes the rest of the team had cleared the outside and made their way inside.

“Alma, I’ve got a trip wire.” She heard Clint’s voice over the com and sighed.

“Okay give me 15 and I’ll be there.” She slung her rifle onto her back and pulled out a pistol that she used to close range combat. Despite being an excellent long-range shot, she was complete garbage at close range combat but could hold her own well enough. She quickly got over to Clint’s position and chewed on her lip “Clint there is a lot more than a tripwire here.” She said looking at the flooring, a few of the tiles looked like they were pressure triggered.

The remaining teammates caught up to their position “Don’t walk on here, try and find a way around this but for the love of God don’t go down any of the hallways, they look like they have pressure triggered plates on the floor.” Alma watched Bucky and Steve scatter, while Nat and Clint stayed behind, Alma sighed “I need to work on clearing these, they let us get here so easily because they’re stalling for an escape.” She made quick work of the trip wire in defusing it and now focused on the flooring, trying to pinpoint which of the blocks were pressure pointed.

She frowned getting impatient and reached to the gun holster on her leg and pulled out her grenade launcher and flipped her mask down. Steve had returned along with Bucky, there had been no other entryways that they could see “I need you guys to go around the corner, I don’t have time to figure this out.” She looked over at Steve who stuck his shield into the ground for a protective barrier in front of Alma. Several soft thunks came as she launched three small adhesive grenades that would cause a localized explosion in the doorway, hopefully clearing the way of any traps that were on the floor.

Alma crouched quickly behind the shield to surround herself, as a wave of heat and rubble fell around her. She coughed at the dust in the air and poked her head over the shield which thankfully covered her from most of the falling debris. “There all clear.” She said crossing her arms over her chest, Bucky gave her a reassuring shoulder squeeze before they headed down the hallway.

Alma followed behind everyone else trying to keep up with the rest of the team. She heard something whistle past her ears and looked down to see her was torn “Sniper!” She shouted and hit the floor immediately and crawled under the windowsill as several more bullets landed on the wall next to her.

Her teammates quickly sought cover while she carefully extended her scope to try and scan the area for the shooter. Clint also scanned the area as well “Alma, I’m not seeing anyone.” He said and crawled over to the bullets to look at them, unmarked as she suspected they would be.

Frowning Alma put her rifle on the window ledge and continued to scan the tree line “The rest of you go and try to find the left-over Hydra members and get as much information as you can. Stay away from the windows.” Alma felt her heart racing as she drowned out the protests from her teammates trying to focus on where the bullets came from. She quickly ripped the protective facemask off her helmet feeling claustrophobic with it covering her face. With her anglesite, she was able to hide around the corner and have her rifle posted outside the window and still have maximum sight. Alma frowned, she felt like she could hear the blood rushing through her brain “Clint, this guy has to be over 600 yards away.” She said nervously.

Clint called back to her “I know Alma, you just need to stay calm and focus.” She felt like Clint was one of the only ones she could relate to seeing as they both worked with long-range weapons and had similar training. She knew Clint was also looking out “I’ve got something at 98 degrees west around 550 yards out. I don’t have a clear shot with my bow.”

She focused on steadying her breathing and closed her eyes looking through her anglesite for any sort of movement in the tree line in the area that Clint had told her about. There it was, a slight rustle in the branches, Alma felt beads of sweat dripping down the side of her face from the adrenaline rush after being shot at. She pulled her trigger and watched as a form dropped from the trees “Got it.” She said and leaned back sliding down the wall and letting out a huff of relief. “That’s not the last sniper they have. They have two more we need to watch out for, they’d be stupid to keep them all at the same compound.”

Bucky was the first one to come down and check back on Alma, he looked down at Alma’s exhausted body leaning against the wall out of sight from any windows. He reached out his hand to help her stand. Alma took it and smiled softly, she stood up not caring that the little voice in her head was telling her she was too heavy for Bucky to lift. They stood in an uncomfortable silence, for some reason whenever they were alone Alma never knew what to say to him. “Nice shot,” Bucky said, he frowned, of course, she was a nice shot that’s why she worked for Tony and was recruited in the first place.

Alma shrugged her shoulders “It was to close.” She said and fingered the hole in her shoulder where the bullet grazed. “You should thank Clint, he found the person’s location.” She shifted feeling exhausted and drained from the sudden burst of adrenaline that happened moments earlier. “Did you guys find anything?”

Bucky shrugged his shoulders “No, you were right about the hallway being a distraction, by the time we got to their main office they wiped everything.”

“Did you look at any of their hard files? They left in a rush they might have forgotten something.” Alma asked. She was going to be furious if their trail went cold yet again.

“Nat and Steve are going through those now.” He said and looked over his shoulder and saw Clint coming down the hallway and soon Steve and Nat followed.

“Did you find anything in their paper copies?” Alma pressed.

Nat nodded her head “Yeah, we found a list of coordinates, but we don’t know what they lead to, so we’ll have to have FRIDAY run them to see where they are located.” Nat handed Alma the coordinates, “We couldn’t pull much from the computers but from what we go the coordinates are their previous hideouts, some of them we haven’t been to.”

Alma looked out the window, she could barely make out the lifeless body of the sniper that had shot at them earlier “We have to locate the remaining snipers, they know we’re on their trail.” She said,

They all nodded their heads in agreement before heading back to their safehouse.

The night was long, as they needed to go through the files that Natasha had brought back, “We can’t go back until we find the last of the snipers,” Alma said pushing her file away, she felt like her eyes were going to fall out from the amount of reading she was doing, “We can’t risk them following us back.” She looked at the two profiles of the remaining snipers; Hades Quinn and Zander Crane. Both had an average kill range of over 1000 yards and dozens of confirmed kills.

While everyone else had gone to bed, just Alma and Bucky remained awake. Alma was determined to pull out her locating skills that she hadn’t put to good use for the last few years, and she wasn’t tired. Bucky didn’t typically sleep more than two or three hours a night because of his nightmares, while they were becoming less frequent, he was still afraid of them coming back, though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone. “Come on Alma, you need to sleep,” Bucky said pushing her laptop screen down.

Alma reached up and grabbed his hand, the coolness of his mechanical hand biting at her warm flesh, “I could say the same to you.” She said she and removed his hand from her screen. “I just need another hour or two before I find them.” She said furiously typing away not bothering to look up from her screen.

Bucky sat at the seat across from her and put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes tiredly “Alma, we have time to research tomorrow too, we don’t have our next location until Stark gets back to us with the location of the coordinates we sent him.” Alma ignored him and continued to type while chewing on her lower lip in concentration, “Alma, please sleep.” Bucky said and shut her laptop.

Alma looked down at her hands and let out a shaky breath “I can’t go to sleep tonight.” She could feel a lump in her throat forming.

Bucky moved his chair closer as Alma put her face in her hands, “Hey, come on” He wasn’t good at comforting people, but had to try “You, you know you can talk to me.” Bucky tentatively reached over and grasped Alma’s hand, he wasn’t used to comforting human contact. It had been since before he was sent to war since he had normal human contact.    

Alma looked up, she had dark bags under her eyes, and a stare that Bucky was all too familiar with, “The last time someone got that close to shooting me was in 2007 when I was 19 and forced to fight in Chechnya.”  She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, “The people that took me from my family and trained me, they leased me out as a merc. I had to take out child soldiers.” If Alma didn’t think about her actions while speaking about them, the amount of guilt that weighed on her shoulders didn’t feel as heavy, “I hesitated my first day and my half my team wound up being killed because I didn’t want to shoot a child.” She let out a bitter laugh “It’s interesting because I was a child soldier at one point too.” It was after this mission that she decided to leave and work on her own. She could make her own rules then and didn’t have to worry about what would happen if she questioned orders.

Bucky listened intently to her words, he knew the pain of killing when not in control, “I’m not going to sleep tonight either; if you want,” He paused to gather his words “We can stay up together.” He didn’t want to push Alma for details on her painful past, he knew she tried to do right in her relief missions in Bosnia defusing landmines and working in refugee camps to help them assimilate to normal life.

She was thankful that Bucky didn’t press her for any more questions. Alma let out a shaky breath “Yeah that would be nice.” She said softly. The only other person on the team that knew about her past before she became a freelance assassin was Clint and Fury. She gathered her things and sat on the couch, still furiously typing away trying to locate Crane and Quinn, Bucky sat down next to her and draped his arm over the back of the couch and watched her focused intently on tracking down the last two Hydra snipers that were still on the loose.

“Hey, Buck?” She asked quietly.

Bucky looked up from the file he was looking over “Hm?” He hummed.

“Did you know either of these guys?” Alma hated to pry into his Hydra life, but at this point, any little bit of information she got would help.

Bucky scratched his scruffy beard “I heard of them, but I never directly worked with them.” He looked at the two pictures “I know there was always a sniper on me during missions if I didn’t follow through or Hydra started to lose control of me they had orders to fire on command.” He grimaced slightly at the memory.

Alma pursed her lips and nodded her head continuing her searching. Hours had passed and it was now into the wee hours of the morning, the sun had yet to rise but the birds were chirping “I got something,” She said and turned the computer screen towards Bucky who perked up. It was a surveillance video from a street camera of someone who matched facial recognition for Quinn. Alma grinned “We have to wait for Stark to send us the exact locations of some of the coordinates we got and cross-reference them with this location.” She said as Bucky gave her a squeeze on her shoulder.

“Nice work,” He said and a light smile ghosted his lips “I’m sure Steve or Nat got something from Stark through the night.” Alma frowned remembering the time zone difference, it was something that she always forgot about. She tiredly rubbed her eyes and leaned back closing them for a minute, she could feel herself dozing off “I’m going to try to catch an hour or two of sleep, you probably should too.” Alma looked over at Bucky, he looked positively beat “You probably should too.” Bucky was about to open his mouth to protest before Alma continued “Thank you for staying up with me.” She said and gathered her things before heading into her room. She set her alarm for 3 hours, giving her plenty of time to get a little bit of rest before she needed to be up for their next location.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted this chapter to start to blossom Alma and Bucky's bond together, I feel like I'm off to a good start with that. I'm also really trying to develop Alma's character too, I feel like I have a lot of trouble with making bland characters that have boring personalities. 
> 
> Let me know what you think about the story so far, I love reading your comments!


	4. Chapter 5

When Alma awoke a few hours later her head was pounding from the lack of sleep. She quickly fished through one of her bags to find something to remedy it. She shuffled her way out to the living room and kitchen area and rubbed her eyes that were heavy with sleep. “Bucky says you found a lead on where Quinn is.” Nat said, Alma nodded her head, “Tony sent me the coordinates last night, he said their next hideout near the location you found is in Hungary.”

Alma sighed, thankfully they were already close to the Romania- Hungary border and their next location was only a few hours out. “Alma and Buck can stay here while we go scout it,” Steve said, Alma looked like she had been through hell and back, and Bucky couldn’t risk going into a base that contained the remaining Hydra members blind.

“Steve if you need anything, radio me and I can walk you through.” Alma offered while grabbing a cup of coffee and sitting on a cold wooden chair.

Steve nodded his head and looked over at Nat and Clint, “be ready to go in an hour.” He said, they had a long drive ahead of them and didn’t know what to expect.

Alma threw the information she had found and written down onto the table “Watch out for Hades Quinn,” she said “He’s got dozens of confirmed kills averaging 987 yards. You need to be careful you aren’t seen.” Alma was unhappy she couldn’t come along, however, if they were just scouting the area there would be no reason to bring more people than they needed. After finishing her coffee, which did nothing but cause her heart rate to increase, Alma went back to bed.

When she woke up Steve, Nat and Clint were long gone; still in her pajamas she walked into the kitchen area to make food. She hadn’t realized how famished she was. She smiled softly at Bucky standing at the stove in a tee shirt, and sweatpants; his usual dress when he wasn’t out on a mission, “Glad to see you’re awake.” He said glancing over his shoulder.

Alma nodded her head and yawned, “I don’t know how you do it.” She said and plopped down on the table.

Bucky shrugged his shoulders and shoved a plate in front of her “Don’t worry about me, eat.” He’d been asleep for too many years.

Alma looked down at the plate, it wasn’t anything fancy just grilled cheese. She sighed, she hadn’t eaten in so long she felt sick just looking at food but powered through the first few bites “Thank you for making me food.” Bucky shrugged, he didn’t want to tell her he made himself two sandwiches and just gave Alma the second one. “Any news from the team?” Alma asked curiously.

“I haven’t heard anything, I was going to check on them around dinner time.” He said and scratched the stubble on his face.  His face felt hot as he looked at Alma’s thin pajama shirt, he swallowed thickly “I’m going for a run.” He said while abruptly standing up, he needed to leave.

Alma finished the last few bites of her sandwich “Okay, be safe,” She said and picked their plates up and tossed them into the sink to wash later.

When Bucky came back from his run two hours later he was sweaty after his run. Since the serum he found that he needed to essentially work twice as hard as a normal person in order to get any sort of work out that benefited him.

He walked through the living room and paused; Alma was furiously typing away at something on her computer “Find anything else on that other guy?” Buck asked.

Alma shook her head “No I’m trying though, it’s like these guys never existed.” She said blowing a puff of air out. She turned and looked at Bucky and nearly choked on the very air she needed to breath to stay alive. He had his shirt slung over his shoulder and was sweaty from his run and just had on a pair of loose fitting gym shorts that outlined everything perfectly.

He nonchalantly walked through the living room with large strides and gathered his things for a shower to clean himself off, he doubted he smelled very nice right now.

Alma would beg to differ, when he walked past she caught his intoxicating sent of sandalwood and cedar filled her nose. She quickly shook her head she continued her research. “Jesus, I need to get ahold of myself.” Alma said quietly to herself when she heard the shower turn on in the bathroom. Quietly she tried to distract herself with doing more research before her phone rang, “Yes?” She said not bothering to look at the screen to see who was calling.

“It’s Steve,” He said huffing heavily.

“What’s wrong is everything going alright?” Alma asked, they should be starting to head back soon from their recon mission.

Steve paused to gather his words “Well. I mean it could be better.” He said, she could tell Steve was fighting someone on the other side of the line.

“Why did you call? Just to chat while you’re getting your ass kicked?” she asked hoping Steve would get to the point.

Bucky came out changed into his usual sweatpants and a dark colored shirt with his hair still wet from the shower and Alma put Steve on speakerphone “We had a small issue,” Steve said, “It seems like they planted that sniper in the area on purpose.” Fuck, it was a trap and now they’re being ambushed.

“Fuck, were coming now.” Alma said as she watched Bucky gather his uniform and Alma did the same.

Steve sounded flustered “Take the jet so you can get here quicker.” Alma hung up and quickly ran to her room and got ready faster than she ever had.

Within minutes she and Bucky were in the air and FRIDAY was navigating them towards the location that the rest of their team mates were. Bucky looked over at Alma “The jet is too big to land we need to jump and have FRIDAY land the jet.”

Alma’s heart stopped “Jump?” She asked, “I-I can’t do that.”

The plane began to fly low as the approached the jump zone “It’ll be okay.” Bucky said and reached his hand out for her to grab “I’m here.”

Alma let out a shaky breath and nodded her head and gripped Bucky’s hand tightly after she checked to make sure all of her things were secured on her. Bucky was surprised at how tight Alma’s grip was, her knuckles were almost turning white “Ready?” He asked looking over at Alma, He couldn’t help but briefly notice how soft her hand felt against his fingertips. “!… 2…” And on three they jumped.

It was an amazing feeling falling through the air, she had only done this once before while she was training, it wasn’t something she did often. She preferred to stay perched in high places and not free falling through the sky. Before Alma knew it a voice crackled in her ear piece “Pull your chute!” Bucky shouted pulling her from her thoughts and she pulled the string and gently landed before taking it off.

“Buck, I’m going to find higher ground” She said pulling back slightly as Bucky nodded his head and ran towards Steve and Nat.

Alma found a nice branch she could set up her collapsible tree stand on and she laid out and clicked her scope into her rifle. She watched Steve, Nat, and Bucky fighting on the ground as Clint was on top of the building firing arrows down. She scanned the surround area and saw incoming forces “Steve,” Alma said, “You have incoming forces, looks to be around 30 or so more guys and a truck.”

“Copy that.” Steve said quickly.

“I’m going to start picking them off.” Alma lined her cross hairs at the ambush coming started to pick them off one by one lowering their numbers. She looked at the distance between the incoming group and her team mates. “They’re not stopping guys.” Alma said into her head piece.

“Deadshot, there’s another sniper, unless you are trying to shoot at me.” Nat said.

Alma scanned the area for Nat, who was far on the opposite side, “I’ll head over and check it out.” She responded and carefully made her way down. She walked through the thick forest that surrounded the compound, she was silently thankful that it was nowhere near civilians. She quietly looked around taking in the seemingly peaceful forest that was far away from any combatants. “I’m not seeing anything guys.” She said into her headset, she looked at her coordinates she had plugged into her watch for where Nat was located and scanned the immediate perimeter.

A heavy arm grasped around her neck and pulled her down Alma gasped in shock but was unable to take in a breath due to the pressure. She bent forward and flipped her attacker over her shoulder and stuck one of her sticky bombs to the back of his pant leg then turned and ran. “I have an ambush here guys, no sniper, but someone was waiting for me.” She said breathing heavily. She looked down at her watch and tried to steady her arm and set the sticky bomb off.  Alma instantly regretted not looking over her shoulder and judging the distance between her and the man running after her when she was greeted with a warm splattering of his body matter all over her body, she turned her head in shock and it covered her face too. Her ears rang and she began disoriented as spat out what she could and felt her stomach beginning to wretch as she fell to her hands and knees and puked out her breakfast and lunch.

“Alma what the fuck happened to you?” she heard as a hand came and grabbed her hair and pulled it out of the way. She wiped her mouth and looked up with watery eyes and saw Clint kneeling at her side.

She coughed and looked down at her bloodstained body and skin and sat down, her eyes dazed, “I…” She had to think hard about what she was saying, it made her head hurt, “Too close” She said and pointed at an area around 15 feet from her that was stained with coagulated blood. She dry-heaved and coughed putting a hand over her mouth before shaking her head “I’m fine.” She said and tried to stand up, but couldn’t due to her balance being off from the blast.

“We need someone to get over here, Alma was too close to her blast and…” Clint looked down at his friend, “She’s a mess.” He said and let out a concerned sigh.

Bucky felt his heart sink to his stomach “I’m on it.” He said looking around at his cleared area. He was the furthest away, but was the first to respond and was there within minutes.

Alma was a sight to behold, her hair was matted with dried pieces of blood and her face was streaked with it and she was still disoriented. He opened his mouth to speak but Clint beat him to it, “It’s not her blood,” He said motioning to the dark blood-soaked ground tens of feet away from them.

“She’s lucky she didn’t get caught in the blast.” Buck said and turned to Clint “Don’t worry, I got her.”

Alma, who was finally starting to regain some of her senses looked over and saw Bucky sitting next to her. She sighed and tried to wipe her red stained hands off on her pants, but no avail, “I should have checked before I hit the switch.” She said softly and shook her head.

Bucky sighed and nodded his head in agreement “Well, at least you took care of him.” Alma looked up at him, the tilting of her chin causing him to see the bruising around her neck that her attacker had given her. Bucky pursed his lips and frowned deeply.

Alma looked away hiding her blood-stained face “Did anyone find the sniper?” She asked.

“Yeah, Steve and Nat got him, we took him alive though for questioning.” Alma arched her brows, she loved interrogation, she and Steve were always put together for it Bucky knew where she was going with that look “No, none of this good cop bad cop stuff you and Steve do. You need to get cleaned up and you can barely hear or stand.” He said standing and offering Alma his hand to stand up.

She took it and frowned, knowing he was right and not liking it. Slowly they made their way to the jet, everyone looked battered, bruised, and simply exhausted. Their flight to the safehouse wasn’t going to be made especially with their prisoner they captured, so they opted for their back up safe house in the area. Alma was the first to the shower, no one was going to fight her on it.

She quickly undressed and turned the shower to scalding temperatures and stepped in, watching the now brown dried blood flow off her skin and down the drain along with bits of skin and other matter. She frowned running her fingers through her hair breaking apart the chunks of dried blood as it got dampened. She sighed and scrubbed her skin and hair clean, trying to get all traces of the human she had blown up and had splattered on her gone.

Alma stepped out of the shower and the steam fogged the mirror blocking her from checking to see if there was still spots on her. She doubted there were but still wanted to make sure. She wrapped the towel around her waist tightly and walked out, opening the door with a puff of steam. She poked her head around the corner and saw Bucky sitting on the couch still in his tactical gear and smiled lightly “You look much better without all that blood smeared on you.” He said looking over, his face turning red under his stubble clad cheeks at Alma’s form just covered by a towel. He was amazed at how a towel could hug someone’s form so well and admired the dramatic dip in her waist and the plushness of her thighs.

Feeling his eyes lingering, Alma shifted “You wouldn’t happen to know where they put my spare clothes do you?” She asked shifting under his gaze.

Bucky licked his lips and shook his head “No, sorry, they might be in the spare room though.” He said trying to clear his mind of the filthy thoughts that clouded them.

Alma turned on her heel and walked towards the spare room careful, sure enough there were spare clothes for her. She quickly dressed and had never been more thankful to be in a pair of sweatpants before in her entire life. “Where’s everyone else?” She asked.

Bucky turned and looked at Alma, despite just being in an old tee-shirt and sweats she still looked gorgeous to him, “Interrogation.” He said while muting the TV.

She walked over and plopped down onto the couch next to him, he was watching the Artist, she smiled softly and he looked over at Alma, “You know that’s how people really reacted to talkies coming around.” Bucky chimed trying to break the silence. Alma tilted her head and urged him to continue talking. “When I was a kid, my parents talked about how talkies were going to ruin the movie industry.” He smiled and let out a humorless laugh “They must be rolling in their graves,” He darkly joked.

Alma couldn’t help but smile at his dark humor, their chat was cut short though. Steve opened the door still dirty and in his gear “Quinn wants to talk to you,” He said pointing towards Alma.

Alma frowned “I can barely hear shit and walk in a straight line let alone interrogate.” She said frowning.

Steve nodded his head “I know, but he’s not saying anything until you come to him he said.”

Alma glanced at Bucky who gave her a sympathetic smile, she sighed “I guess I’ll come, but you need to keep eyes on me at all times.” She said and looked at Steve and Bucky, both of which nodded in agreement.

-

Alma grasped the steel door lightly while she looked over her shoulder at her team mates, she knew they would be watching from behind the two-way glass but the thought of being alone made her nervous. She walked through the door and shut it behind her, their asset handcuffed to the table looking like he had taken a beating.

“Here she is,” Hades Quinn said smirking, “Deadshot, Warsaws infamous merc.”

Alma winced at her former life being mentioned “That’s behind me now.” She said and sat down on the hard-wooden chairs.

Quinn let out a laugh “That’s not true now Alma, is it?” He asked.

Alma chewed on her lower lip, she was getting pissed, “Why did you want to talk?” she hissed “Just say it I don’t have all god damn day.”  

“You’re not going to find Crane,” He said, “The only reason you found me was because I wanted you to.” He narrowed his eyes obviously viewing her as less than him, “You, really think we’d be that stupid?” Alma clenched her hands tightly and bounced her leg up and down, “Crane was trained by the same person as you were, so good luck finding him.” Hades Quinn leaned back in his chair casually with a smug grin on his face.

Alma’s face had shock painted on it, trained by the same person? Given Crane’s training she knew he would most likely be heading to Poland soon. She quickly stood up causing her chair to clatter to the ground and abruptly left the room. Nat stopped her “What does he mean trained by the same person?” she asked.

Alma shrugged Nat’s hand off her shoulder “Get your shit, we have to go to Warsaw I know where Crane is.” She said and moved to exit the interrogation room.

“What the hell are we going to do with Quinn?” Steve asked, sounding flustered.

Shrugging her shoulders Alma frowned “I don’t know to leave him here?” She asked.

Steve rolled his eyes, letting his morality take over “Nat and Clint, you can take him to Interpol and meet the rest of us in Poland okay? We’ll send you the landing coordinates.”

Within minutes Alma was dressed in fresh gear anxiously waiting for their flight to her home, a place she had been avoiding for the last 5 years.


	5. Chapter 4

The ride to Poland had Alma anxious, she nervously bounced her leg up and down and Steve placed his hand on Alma’s knee and gave her a sympathetic look “It’s going to be fine.” He said softly.

Alma shrugged her shoulders, “I know, I’m fine.” She said bluntly.

Steve crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back “I didn’t ask if you were okay.” He pointed out.

Alma sighed in defeat and leaned her seat back “I’m going to sleep.” She huffed.

“Hey, Alma,” She heard in her ear with a hand lightly shaking her shoulder. She jumped at the sudden weight and sat up looking to see Bucky holding his hands up defensively.

She cleared her eyes of sleep and looked around.

Krakow.

She hummed lightly to herself as they drove to a secured location on the outskirts of the city. Together the three unloaded all of their gear into the area they would be staying in. Clint and Natasha were due to join them in a few hours after dropping Quinn off at the Interpol location.

Once they were finished all three of them sat around the kitchen table “Alma, you have to tell us everything about who trained you.” Steve pressed.

Alma nervously chewed on her lip, this was a part of her life she didn’t want to talk about; however, for the things they had at stake, it was something she needed to do. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed “Where do you want me to start?” Her voice cracked and her hands felt sweaty.

Steve pursed his lips and folded his hands over each other, “From the beginning,” He said softly “Take your time.”

Nodding her head and looking up, Alma let out a deep breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in. “Well, there isn’t much to tell. I was taken when I was 12 by a man named Isaac Hunt, and he wanted me to help him train more child soldiers so I left.” She shrugged her shoulders; that was the abridged version at least.

Steve frowned “Come on Alms; there has to be more.” He pressed on more wanting to know more information.

“Oh, don’t Alms me, Steve.” She snapped “What the fuck do you want me to say?” She threw her hands up in defeat while raising her voice “That this man kidnapped me and my brothers and sister and forced us to watch each other be broken down into child soldiers?” she ran a hand through her hair and felt her breathing increase “Do you want me to tell you about how it’s my fault my siblings are dead because I couldn’t kill a child soldier because I saw myself in their faces? Or how I had to run so I wouldn’t be forced into breaking down and torturing 5-year old’s so that they could grow up to be killing machines?” Alma looked down and she was standing, she didn’t know when she stood up or when she started crying but her cheeks were wet and her face was red.  Sighing in defeat she sat back down on the chair and put her face in her hands, “I’m sorry.” She whispered softly.

Bucky reached over the table and lightly touched her hands “It’s okay.” He said softly, he knew what it was like to be built to kill and to see countless lives lost at your hands.

Steve cleared his throat, “It’s okay, I shouldn’t have pried.” He his eyes glanced over at Bucky who nodded his head at Alma “I’m sorry.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Alma looked up and wiped her wet eyes, “It’s fine; you just wanted to know if I could help.” Her voice was hoarse with emotion, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling “He has one compound in Poland, it’s on the northern side of Krakow.” She looked down; exhausted emotionally.  

Steve nodded his head and listened as she rattled off coordinates. Alma stood up and walked into one of the bedrooms, Steve looked over his shoulder at her slumped shoulders “Keep an eye on her Buck.” He said while he headed off to map out a plan.

Bucky’s knuckles lightly rapped on the hollow wooden door, he pushed it open and saw Alma sitting on the bed with her feet dangling over. She looked down at her hands, ignoring the dip and groan of the springs when Bucky sat next to her. “I get it,” He said softly and looked over at Alma, who was still fixated on her hands, the hands that killed countless people, “I know that no matter how many people you help here, it’ll never be enough to wash the red away.” His voice was languid.

Alma looked up at Bucky, who hadn’t stopped looking away from her. At that moment she felt as though he was the only one who knew how she felt. She opened her mouth to speak, but he continued “But, the fact that you see that you did wrong and want to better it is enough to start making the red begin to fade.” He grasped her small hands in his large calloused ones and gave them a gentle squeeze.

She smiled softly and leaned her head on his burly shoulder and sighed breathing in his musky scent. Alma placed her hand lightly on Bucky’s knee, the sudden warmth of her hand caused him to jump slightly “We should go help Steve plan. Nat and Clint should be back too.” She said and stood up.

Bucky frowned lightly feeling the coolness nip at his shoulder where her head used to be and followed her. Steve was in the basement sitting at one of the computers; he had adjusted fairly well to the use of modern technology with the help of Tony and Peter, but it still flustered him from time to time. Alma walked up behind him and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder. He looked over his shoulder watching Alma grin at his hands, he was only using his pointer fingers to type “Move over, I’ll get everything you need.” She said, pretending as if she hadn’t been crying moments earlier. That was her best feature, hiding her emotions and pretending like nothing was wrong.

Steve quickly moved over, not questioning her change of mood and watched his friend furiously type away, after a few minutes she pressed a button on the computer and in the center of the room a holographic image showed up showing them the compound. It wasn’t terribly big or menacing looking which was the point of it. “So, it has several entrances if I remember correctly,” She marked them off with red dots on the image showing them where they were.

“Aw, started the fun without us?” Clint asked walking in with Natasha, they both looked exhausted.

Steve looked over at the two, “How did transport go?” he asked arching his brows curiously.

Natasha shifted uncomfortably and Clint scratched at the back of his head “You didn’t kill him, did you?” Bucky asked crossing his arms.

Clint shook his head “Well, no, not technically.”

“What do you mean not technically?” Steve asked standing up.

Nat shoved Clint, “We didn’t kill him, but maim him yes.” Natasha said hoping it would help clear Clint’s words.

Steve held his hands out in disbelief “Damn it guys.” Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair, messing up its perfection. “You literally had one job.” He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Nat frowned “What the hell was I supposed to do? He tried to slap my ass.”

“So you killed him?” Bucky asked with a shit-eating grin.

Natasha shook her head “No I didn’t kill him, I- well you know…” She trailed off at the end of her sentence.

Clint playfully punched Nat’s shoulder “He tried to slap her so she slapped him, with the back of her gun 7 times.”

Steve groaned loudly, he felt like he was wrangling a herd of children whenever he dealt with those two, “Don’t worry he made it back to Interpol mostly conscious. It made transporting him a breeze.” Natasha grinned.

“Yeah it was a breeze because you knocked him senseless,” Steve grumbled, there was no getting through to them.

Alma cleared her throat “Can I continue?” She asked. Everyone nodded, giving her the signal to continue, “So like I said, several entrances and exits but these three are the main doors. They are always guarded, you know in case anyone who isn’t supposed to leave or come in tries to.” She continued explaining the layout of the compound and then looked over at Steve, “So Cap, how do you want to do this?” She asked with a small smile.

Steve glanced over the holographic layout before him, “Does it have any traps outside or inside?”

“No, they shouldn’t,” She said reassuringly “But keep an eye out none the less. Clint and I can run recon tonight and tomorrow night when it’s dark we raid got it?” Alma suggested.

The group nodded and murmured in agreement, Clint glanced at Alma “Lets suit up then.” He said smiling at his friend.  

Quickly the two were suited up, Alma looked at the wall clock, sunset had occurred an hour ago which meant the two would be covered by the darkness that engulfed the Krakow outskirts. She and Clint loaded their reconnaissance gear into their SUV and headed off, “You usually never volunteer yourself for recon missions.” Clint pointed out.

Alma frowned, “Yeah I know, I don’t want to be at the compound; Steve keeps asking me questions about Hunt.” She looked away not wanting to catch Clint’s eyes.

Clint glanced over at his friend, “Ah, yeah that makes sense then.” He said he was perhaps the only person other than Fury and Coulson who had read her full file.

The rest of their short ride was silent until they exited the car “Okay, how do you want to do this?” Clint asked getting his scope to read.

“Well, you can take the north and east entrances and I’ll take the south and west entrances?” Alma suggested.

Clint nodded his head “Channel 4?” He asked, “For communication?”

“Yeah, then if we need to contact the whole group it’s channel 2.” And with that, the two went their separate ways.

They staggered back around 700 yards from the compound to stay out of the field of sight. Alma climbed her way up the stairs in a nearby abandon building and made her camp at the south entrance where she would be watching for the next few hours. She pulled out a chair and set her scope up “How’s it looking over there Hawkeye.” She asked watching the guards do their rotations.

The static in Clint’s mic crackled “Good, nothing out of the ordinary here; looks we got here just as they started their rotation.” He said and watched the guards rotate spots, the way they moved was that no one’s spot was left empty, unfortunately. “We need to keep an eye out for any openings.” He said making a note.

Alma groaned and nodded her head “Yeah, I know.” She sighed, now she remembered why she never volunteered for reconnaissance missions, she was completely and utterly bored and looking into her tiny scope made her eyes want to fall out.

“So, Alma,” Clint started out.

“Yes, Clint?”

“You and Barnes?”

Alma involuntarily sucked in, “What do you mean?” She asked.

“Oh, you know, everyone knows.” Clint would have laughed out loud if they weren’t on a mission.

“No? You need to stop being vague.”

Clint practically rolled his eyes into the back of his head “There’s some weird sexual tension between you two.” Alma could hear his dumb ass smirk through the headset “You two practically eye fuck each

other.”

“Oh whatever; he doesn’t like me I’m too f-“

“Don’t you even think about saying what I think you’re going to say.” Clint immediately interrupted her, he hated it whenever Alma talked down on herself.

Alma sighed, Clint always talked her up and made her feel good about herself. Sure, Barnes was cute, too cute for her. She shook her head at the thought, just wishful thinking “I mean yeah he’s attractive, but-“

“Rotate” Clint interrupted, it had already been two hours since she had been at her post.

Alma gathered her things and continued talking “What I was saying is that I don’t think he’d ever go for me.” She found a nice spot looking at the western entrance and set her things up to continue her observations.

She could hear Clint unpacking his equipment as well, “I can talk to him for you, or ask Steve too.” He offered.

“Jesus Clint, if you value me as a person don’t do that.” She hissed into her headset; he and Nat were her closest friends, but because of their spy training they were the nosiest people she had ever met.

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t try.” Clint reminded her, “Are you remembering your observations?” he asked.

Alma nodded her head “Yes Mom, I am don’t worry.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Every two hours it seemed they did a rotation, however with the east and west entrances they had two guards stationed. Clint was talking and making sure she wasn’t too unentertained by watching people, “Hold up,” She said cutting Clint off. She moved her zoomed her scope in and took a picture with the camera built into it “That’s Hunt.” She said frowning and watching the older man talking with the guards and walking into the building with Crane at his side.

“Well, at least that confirms they’re here.” Clint said and looked down at his watch “We should pack up soon actually.” He said noticing they had been at the compound for the four and a half hours.

Alma nodded her head, she didn’t know why Clint couldn’t see her. “Yeah, you’re right, we need to sleep for tomorrow.”

“I always say sleep and breakfast are the two most important things to do before a mission.” Clint joked, but she knew he actually believed it. He was such a mom sometimes.

The two regrouped at the SUV and loaded their gear back into it and headed back to their base to give all of their intel to the team.

When they arrived the quickly went to the basement where everyone else had been working “We’re back!” Alma called while opening the door.

Steve, Nat, and Bucky looked up from the hologram of the compound they were looking at and welcomed the two back from their mission. “Alright, what have you got?” Nat asked leaning back in her chair.

Alma took her flash drive as well as Clint’s which had images and their notes on it. She quickly pulled up the image of Hunt and Crane entering the compound “This old guy is the man who trained me, and this,” She said pointing at the younger gentleman “Is Crane, he is our target.”

Clint looked over at the hologram and pointed at the four entrances they watched “We looked at these four main entrances, the east and west facing entrances have two guards at them and the rotate every two hours.” Clint pulled up a short video of the guards’ rotation pattern.

Steve scratched at his stubbly chin and nodded his head; his brain was racing a mile a minute thinking of the different plans for their storm tomorrow. But he was so exhausted he couldn’t clear his mind; rubbing his darkly circled eyes he sighed “Let’s just sleep on this info and work more on it in the morning, we need to sleep before we start any type of planning.”

Everyone grumbled in agreement, it had been a long day for everyone.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, things are starting to pick up, I want to finish the whole Europe mission before I really dive into their relationship. I have BIG PLANS PEOPLE. So just keep reading.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have BIG PLANS PEOPLE for this fic. I’m sorry for how short this chapter was I’m having really awful writer’s block for this whole plot right now and I’m kind of over it tbh I just wanted this part to be over so I can work on their relationship. Anywho this is going to be the last time I update for a while because I am moving and I have a research presentation in two weeks that I really need to work on. So thank you for being patient with me!

The idea of storming the base kept Alma up most of the night so when Steve went around doing wakeup call and Clint busied himself in the kitchen making breakfast; she was already up and ready to go.

Steve entered her room “Oh, sorry.” He said seeing her sitting on her bed looking through paperwork.

“You’re fine. I was already up.” She said and smiled as though she hadn’t a care in the world.

After a nice hearty breakfast brought to you by Hawkeye AKA the team mom they headed to the compound and Steve explained their plan of attack was to capture Crane and Hunt alive and to kill them only if necessary, but everyone else was fair game. The ride was short and sweet to the compound; they were expected which made their arrival anything but.

Alma threw several flash bang bombs throughout the main entrance stunning and taking out several of the enemies with the shrapnel that flew out. Their arrival was loud and chaotic; bullets were flying and people were dropping left and right. Alma had to get into the building before anyone else did. She had to be the one to find Crane and Hunt. She ran through using her grenade launcher to clear the path “I’m in!” She shouted into her headset and running down the hallway. Her chest was heaving and she could hear her heart beating in her ears so loudly it felt like they would explode.

She shook her head to clear it but it was to no avail. Alma knew this compound like the back of her hand. She walked past rooms and saw a younger version of herself training until she collapsed, battered and bruised. She put her hand on the cool metal door to the to the dormitory. She knew she shouldn’t go in but she did it anyways. There were 20 beds 5 bunkbeds on each side and plain black sheets with crisp white pillows on top of them. She walked over to the third bed on the left and put her hands on the old metal rungs, this was her bed. She and her 5 siblings called this place home for years. She touched the named etched onto the beds by her brothers and sisters and sighed trying to hold back the sudden flood of emotion that overcame her. “What are you seeing in there?” she heard Steve’s voice crackle over the headset.

Alma stuttered caught off guard “It’s surprisingly empty.” She said softly.

“I called in the rest of the team back in New York, these guys just keep coming.” Steve grunted obviously in the heat of battle “Tony said they’ve been on standby once they found out about the raid.” He added.

Alma exhaled “Copy.” She said letting Steve know that he was heard as she continued to walk through the building silently praying to herself that she wouldn’t run into any of the children he captured. She didn’t know what she would do if one of their little bodies walked out in front of her.

The tile on the floor was crisp and unscuffed as were the cement walls, however if the walls could talk they would have seen enough horror to last two life times. She came to a large double door with a key pad and scanner in front if it. She chewed on her lip thinking about if her key code and handprint scanner still worked. She typed her code in and scanned her hand and the light lit up green and slid open. Crane and Hunt were waiting for her. Hunt had aged, when she first met him roughly a decade ago he was already in his 30s now his usually manicured facial hair had grown out and was peppered with gray hair. Crane was young, well younger than she was at least and he was tall and lanky “I see you’ve taken a liking to training older people to do your dirty work.” Alma said greeting her old mentor.

He shrugged “After Crane, I didn’t need to take in anymore pupils.” He said and began to walk forward.

Alma turned her head at the sound of a gun cocking behind her and she saw Bucky; his hair was pasted to his dirty forehead from sweat and his mask and goggles had been ripped off showing the dark circles painted under his eyes and his chest heaved from physical exhaustion. “Buck, don’t shoot him we need them alive.” She said holding her hand out.

Isaac Hunt continued talking over her “You know why I didn’t need another pupil?” He asked pacing the room and glancing at the security cameras that showed the battle happening outside, “He wasn’t weak like you.”

Alma grimaced “Shut up,” She said and clenched her fists.

Hunt ignored her “You see, when I gave him a mission; he did it, no casualties” He paused before looking up at Alma, “But you, you’re weak, you caused your whole team to die because you can’t follow through. You’re going to do it all over again with this team too I bet.” He let out a bitter laugh and shook his head.

Alma’s face scrunched up in pain, the emotion of her brothers and sisters’ lifeless bodies lying in front of her in a pool of blood surrounding her feet flooded into her brain. She could smell the metallic scent and gun powder in the air of that day and reached for her gun strapped at her side until Bucky came up behind her and grabbed her arms and held them at her side “Alma, stop it, you need to focus on the mission.” He said struggling against her in his grip. “Cap, you need to send someone in here.” He called and within minutes the team showed up behind her and Bucky.

She heard the sound of Tony’s repulse blast charging and glanced over her shoulder, her eyes were broken and tired. “Come on Cyborg, take her out of here.” Tony said seeing the obvious destress she was in.

Alma struggled against Bucky as he pulled her out of the room and down a hallway “Why did you do that! I can handle myself.” Alma jerked away and brushed her top off.

Bucky narrowed his eyes “You didn’t have it under control and you didn’t need to be in there, Alma, I know that look you had.” He said pointing to the room adjacent to them. “You were going to kill him and you would have regretted it the moment after you pulled that trigger.” Alma slumped down on the ground onto her knees and huffed out of defeat, Bucky was right.

She brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at Bucky “I just want this mission to be over.” She said, she sounded defeated and exhausted beyond belief.

Bucky nodded his head in agreement staring down at his friend with his bright blue eyes now dulled from exhaustion. He sighed along with Alma, for once he wasn’t the only life destroyed by HYDRA.  

The crackling in their headset broke their somber silence “We have them in custody and are transporting them back to the compound back in the States.” Steve said, “We are doing a once over of the building before we go to gather anymore intelligence we have on Crane and Hunt.”

Alma stood up groaning as her bones ached and walked with Bucky down the hallway “Come here, I want to show you something.” She said pulling him into the dormitory “This is where I slept.” She ran her finger over her name neatly carved into the metal rungs “I got such a beating for doing this, so did all my siblings.” She said and pointed out the 6 bunks that were theirs with their names all clearly written into them. Teodor, Antoni, Oskar, Julia, Monika, and Alma.

Bucky looked around the room, it was plain, definitely not the place for children to grow up in. But this was the place Alma called home until she left at 19 “Your siblings would be proud.” He said softly.

Alma jerked her head over, his words were almost so soft she couldn’t hear them “Thank you.” She responded just as quietly. She walked over swiftly and opened the drawers to the old wooden dressers in the room and found that they were empty and coated with dust, she sighed silently hoping that she would find some sort of relic from her past hidden within them. However, she found nothing, the room was completely barren.  

After their last sweep of the compound Alma and Bucky met up with the team at the quin jets; half the team loaded onto one with Crane and Hunt while the other half loaded onto a separate one. Thankfully the ride was surprisingly short due to the speed of the jets. What would have typically taken 17 hours was now cut in half and only took around eight thanks to Tony’s technology. A vast majority of the ride was spent with Alma sleeping since through the whole mission she had probably gotten around 10 hours of sleep collectively since they left Upstate New York.

Steve sat next to Bucky and groaned under the ache of his bones, “So, you and Alma?” He asked giving his friend a knowing smirk.

Bucky looked up from the book he was reading, “Hm?” He hummed confused at his comment.

“Come on Buck, I haven’t seen you look at a girl like that since…” He paused to think “Come to think of it you’ve never looked at a girl like that.” He said talking lowly so no one could hear their conversation.

Bucky rolled his eyes “Look at her like what?” he asked making a face of disbelief.

Steve rolled his eyes and gave his friend a playful shove “I know the face you make when you see a pretty dame, but when you see a beautiful woman, it’s different.” He said poking his friend’s chest.

If it weren’t for Bucky’s scruff Steve would have been able to see his cheeks lightly dusted pink from his friend finding out about his little fancy. His mouth hung open as he stuttered over his words trying to make up a lie but it came to no avail as he stammered and stumbled over his words. Finally, he gave up and shook his head and let out a small laugh “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He said and looked down at his gloved hands “I think she’s beautiful, yeah, but she wouldn’t want to see a guy like me.” He said getting quieter as he finished his sentence.  “She’s the only one who knows what it is like to be destroyed by HYDRA. But I’m still too messed up.” He said and ran a hand through his greasy hair, dirty from the sweat and grime of battle hours earlier.

Steve frowned deeply “Don’t say that Buck.” He said and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder “If anything she’d understand.” He said and bit his lip in thought, “You just got to go for it!” He said and patted his friend’s shoulder.

Bucky sighed and shrugged his shoulders “I don’t know, I mean I guess I could try.” 


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, my loves! I am so sorry I took so long to update this! I was honestly feeling a lack of inspiration for this story but I AM BACK BITCHES!!! Anyways I also decided to cut this fic a little short because I just felt like this was a good way to end MS; however, there will be one more chapter and an epilogue after this! I am either going to make it super angsty or super fluffy at the end. It depends on how I feel while I am writing it Thank you for all of your support in this fic, I absolutely loved writing it! Also If you haven’t heard the song Moonlight Serenade I recommend listening to it both the instrumental and the version with Billie Holiday singing it.
> 
> Also, there is smut in this chapter so be warned. I shouldn't have to tell you that with the rating though.

The option of sitting out the post-mission celebration was off the table for Alma, not only did their mission put away the last HYDRA sniper and her former kidnapper, but it saved the countless lives of the people that were employed by Nick Fury and Tony Stark at the upstate New York compound. So when Tony said that everyone was to go to a Jazz bar a few blocks away it was expected that everyone would show up or Tony would personally bring them with him.

“Alma come on!” Natasha called knocking on her bedroom door “We are already late we need to go!”

Alma sighed looking at herself in the mirror, Tony told everyone to dress cocktail sexy, whatever the hell that meant “I look ridiculous in this dress.” She huffed and sat down on her bed strapping on the heels that Natasha and Wanda picked out for her.

Natasha leaned her forehead on the door “Come on Alms, let us see, I bet you look hot.” She said in a sing-song voice.

Trying to hide her grin, Alma got up and opened the door to reveal her simple black dress with a deep plunging v-neckline. Nat clasped her hands together “See I told you! Now let’s go, Bucky is going to be speechless.” She said and pushed Alma out the door.

“What?” She said her face flushing “I’m not trying to impress him.” She nervously crossed her arms over her chest and tugged her dress down while she carefully stepped so she didn’t break her neck in the heels Nat made her wear.

Nat rolled her eyes “Come on, we all see it, the way you two look at each other and talk to each other.”

Alma couldn’t hide her smile any longer “Shut up,” She said smiling as they got into their taxi that drove them the few blocks it was to the Jazz bar.

The lazy beats could be heard through the brick walls of the bar as she and Nat entered and found their team. Bucky looked up mid-sip of his beer and inhaled sharply causing him to cough, Steve grinned and patted his friend’s back a little too hard causing his feet to slip off the bar stool. Jesus, he was such a mess right now, how could such a simple black dress send him into such a tizzy?

Alma shifted nervously and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles on her dress while under the gaze of her teammates “You clean up nicely when you’re not covered in blood.” Clint joked handing her an old-fashioned, her drink of choice.

“Oh, uh, thanks I guess.” She said laughing a little to herself remembering her state during the mission. Alma took a seat and quickly gulped down her drink in record time which earned a call of praise from Thor and Sam.

The night continued on and her friends danced to the lively big band music. She was particularly proud of Steve who had befriended a lovely blonde girl and was trying to teach her how to swing dance. She looked over at Bucky, who hadn’t moved from his seat or averted his gaze from her since she had arrived in the building. Natasha staggered towards her “Alma!” She cooed wrapping an arm around her friend “Go ask him to dance,” She said and tugged Alma off of her chair and pushed her towards Bucky “Go on, I need to win a bet.” Nat grinned.

“A bet?” Alma asked looking over her shoulder.

Nat had absolutely no shame in admitting her scheming with the others “Yeah, come on Tony, Steve, Sam, Clint and I have a bet and if I lose I get stuck on laundry duty for them.”

Alma shook her head, she lived with a bunch of superheroes and they lived like children. She didn’t even have time to ask what the grounds of the bet were, when Alma looked in front of her she saw Bucky just a few feet in front of her. Nat gave her ass a crisp slap “Good luck.” She said and was swallowed by the crowd behind them.

“Hi,” Bucky said and stood up from his bar stool.

“Hey.” Alma shifted and leaned on the counter, she took in her surroundings and noticed a lull in the music, they were changing songs. She looked down at her feet thankful she brought a pair of flats to change into and then back up to Bucky.

The music slowed down around them, and a familiar tune began to play as the lovely clarinet notes began to fill their ears “Do you want to dance?” He asked.

Alma looked back behind her and saw Steve giving her a thumb up from the crowd and turned back “Yeah, I’d like that.” She said and smiled as one of Bucky’s sweaty and calloused hands gripped hers and led her out to the dance floor.

He lightly gripped her hip while his other her hand and together they moved to the beat of the music. Alma felt her heart racing and she was sure Bucky could hear it, and he could. She hesitantly closed the awkward gap between them and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Bucky tensed up at her movements but shifted his arms, so he held her close to him admiring her gorgeous curves and how nicely the dress hugged them. It had been ages since he had been this close to a woman, let alone a woman he actually cared about. He lightly hummed the words that Billie Holiday’s timeless voice sang and relaxed as Alma’s arms snaked around his neck and lightly ran her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. Bucky craned his neck and nuzzled his head into the crook of Alma’s neck and felt her shiver under his touch “Hey, doll, do you want to get out of here?” He asked.

Alma looked up and swallowed thickly “Yes,” She said breathlessly.

Bucky felt himself twitch in his pants as he gripped her wrist and let Alma out of the building and even though they were only a few blocks from the compound Bucky still hailed a taxi for them to take. The quicker they got back the better.

In the darkness of the cab, Bucky looked over at Alma and bit his lip. She was staring out the window completely oblivious to the effect she was having on him. He looked at her starting from her legs and wonderfully plush thighs that he had thought of countless times, hugging his waist as he pounded into her, her full hips and plump round ass, her full round breasts that were just barely covered by the top of her dress. He groaned when the cab stopped quickly running around the open the door for Alma, he had never been in such a rush before in his life.

When they entered the elevator to their floor Bucky wrapped his arms around Alma’s waist and began to pepper her neck with kisses leaving a small trail of love bites in his wake. She gasped and craned her neck to give him better access while she leaned her back against the cool metal walls of the elevator that seemed to seer against the warmth of her skin “You’re eager.” She said gasping as he bit her and licked the angry red mark.

The elevator binged signaling their stop had come to Bucky reluctantly pulled away and gave her hand a light squeeze. They stopped at the door to Alma’s bedroom and Bucky looked down at her and swallowed thickly “I’ve been waiting a while for this moment, doll.” He said and watched as she put her hand on the handle to her door.

She looked up at him “Really?” Alma asked. “You’ve been waiting a while for this?” She didn’t seem to believe it.

Bucky looked down at her and furrowed his brows in confusion “Of course I have, Alms, you’re gorgeous.”

Alma looked down, she didn’t believe him “I don’t know about that.” She said and laughed lightly before opening her door and walking in.

She felt a pair of strong arms snake around her waist and pull her close against a brick wall of a chest “Don’t ever talk down about yourself, doll. You are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” He said, “Even before this happened.” He said motioning to his arm.

Her face reddened “You mean it?” She asked Bucky had been alive for well over 70 years, so for him to say that amazed her.  “You can have any girl you want, Buck, why me?” She said leaning her head back and gripping his hands that were laced together in front of her.  

Bucky leaned his head in the crook of Alma’s neck “You’re so beautiful and you’ve never treated me any differently or ever showed any hesitation.” His voice was muffled by her hair “We have both been broken down by HYDRA and our hands are stained red, but we want to make it better.”

Alma turned around in his tight grip, he was right, her hands were stained with red and she was trying to change it.  Bucky was truly the only one on this team she could relate to. She stood on her tiptoes and closed the gap between them. Bucky groaned into the kiss and slid his hands down and gripped her ass, pulling her closer to him. The kiss was needy, and their teeth clanked together as their mouths moved in sync.

Bucky walked her closer and closer to the bed until the back of her legs hit the edge of her mattress. Alma sat back and looped her fingers in Bucky’s pants and pulled him close to her. He brought his fingers up and ghosted the deep exposed V of her chest; lightly tracing the smooth skin of her breasts before he knelt between her legs and pushed the sides of her dress apart exposing her naked chest. “Jesus, Alma.” He said gripping her breasts in both of his hands and giving them a sharp squeeze before he enveloped them with his mouth, sucking and licking at her nipples while his hand twisted and pulled at them.

She sighed and arched her back into his touch enjoying the feeling of his calloused fingertips on her sensitive nubs “Bucky…” Alma sighed and ran her fingers through his hair and scratched at his skelp.

Bucky groaned feeling the tingling against his skelp and quickly pulled back and tugged his shirt off. Alma licked her lips staring at his chest, it was well defined and speckled with hair. Her gaze caught his metallic arm and the angry red scars that covered his skin. She reached her hand down and ghosted her fingers along the raised skin and leaned forward, kissing along the seam of flesh and metal.

He gasped, how could something that had given him so much pain be touched so tenderly?

Alma’s hands traced down his side and palmed against his growing erection that seemed to be straining against his pants she inhaled sharply “Shit, Buck.” She said tugging her bottom lip in her teeth “I need you now.” Her breathing was labored, and eyes clouded with lust “We can worry about everything else later.”

Bucky ran his hands up Alma’s thighs squeezing against her soft plush skin “You sure, doll?” He asked.

Alma nodded her head and leaned down kissing Bucky “Jesus Barnes. Just fuck me already.”

Bucky grinned against her lips and quickly flipped her over, they were so rushed he didn’t even bother to properly lay her on the bed. Kneeling right here on the floor would be good enough for now. He pulled up the back of her dress and smirked “No panties?” He asked giving her cheek a crisp slap. Alma gasped and arched her back “You’re a naughty girl, you know that.” He wound back up giving her ass yet another crisp slap causing her to arch her back more and moan louder. “What are we going to do about that, huh?” He asked teasingly taking his finger and dipping his finger into her warmth and allowing her arousal to coat his fingers. He inserted two fingers into her and pulled out quickly “I said, what are we going to do about it?” He asked smacking her ass again, and bring his fingers up to his mouth and licking them clean “Hmmm…” He hummed “I’ll have to wait to taste you.” He mused to himself.

Alma felt her heart racing in her ears, holy shit, she didn’t know what to expect with Bucky. But this? This was certainly something she wanted “I want you to fuck me.” She said and wiggled her ass in front of him.

Bucky’s tongue poked out of his mouth as his two hands clenched her ass and spread them apart giving him a nice full view of her soaking wet core “I don’t know doll.” He said, “Are you going to be my good girl?” He asked and rubbed his hands on the smooth skin of her hips.

“Please, Buck?” She gasped feeling her core throb, aching for his touch.

“Say it,” He said, Alma’s mind was spinning as she felt him teasingly moving his cock along her folds, pressing against her clit “Say you’re my good girl.” His voice was heavy and raspy with lust.

Alma swallowed thickly “I’ll be your good girl, James.” Her voice was whiney, and Bucky could see her chest heaving.

Bucky licked his lips and slowly inserted himself into her tight warmth “Oh fuck,” He hissed and gripped Alma’s hips tightly. Bucky let out a shaky breath and steadied himself behind her, he really needed to compose himself otherwise he was going to fucking lose it. It had been decades since he’d been intimate with a woman. But this was something different. It wasn’t some emotionless fuck, there was so much more that Bucky felt, his mind was swimming with emotions he had never felt before.

Alma’s legs shook as Bucky’s cock sinfully stretched her. She gripped onto the bedsheets in front of her and bit her lip. There were for sure going to bruising on her hips, but if they were from Bucky she didn’t care.

Bucky groaned as he pulled out and snapped his hips back into her and continued to pull out and slam back into her admiring the wet sounds that came from her pussy “Please, fuck me harder,” Alma begged, her voice wavered feeling him pull out of her once more, missing the full feeling he gave her.    

Bucky grunted in response and kept his bruising grip on Alma’s hips and pulled her back while slamming into her as he began to rut into her tight heat at a ravishing pace “You’re being such a good girl for me, doll.” He said reaching his hand up and grabbing a fist full of hair and tugging Alma’s head back causing her back to arch.

She moaned loudly “Ah, yes, I’m your good girl.” Alma said as her mouth hung ajar while she tried to catch her breath.

His relentless pace and grip didn’t let up. Bucky continued to pound into Alma’s hips at a bruising pace, the only sounds that filled the room being their wanton moans and skin slapping against skin. “Louder,” Bucky growled through clenched teeth.

Alma’s moans began to reach higher in pitch “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She couldn’t get any other words out of her mouth.

Bucky growled and smacked her ass again admiring the red hand mark that was developing on her skin and tugged her hair harder “I said, say it louder.” He said leaning down and licking the shell of her ear.

Alma let out a high-pitched moan at the crisp smack “Fuck, I’m your good girl, James.” She said loudly and pushed her hips back against Bucky and matching his thrusts “Feels so good.” She moaned.

The sound of his name on her lips drove Bucky wild, he reached his hand down and began to rub circles against her clit with his metallic hand “Say it again,” He said and snapped his hips harder and harder, “Say my name again.” His long locks were pasted against his forehead with sweat.

“Oh fuck, James.” She said gasping as the sudden coolness at her core. She felt a knot beginning to build in her stomach and her walls began to twitch around him “Fuck, James!”

Bucky bit his lip hard “Come on, doll, I wanna feel you come around my cock.” He said and lightly bit down on her shoulder and continued to rub hard circles on her sensitive swollen nub.

“Oh fuck, fuck.” Alma cried as her walls clenched down hard around Bucky causing him to let out a loud groan and shot hot thick ropes of come into her.

Bucky thrust into her a few more times allowing her to milk him and work her through her orgasm before he pulled out “Oh, shit Alms.” He huffed looking down at her bruised hips and shaking legs.

Alma sucked in deep breaths of air as she came down from her high “Yeah, oh shit is right.” She said and let out a soft laugh as she rolled over fixing her dress to cover herself again.

Bucky looked down and smiled, her face was streaked with makeup and her hair was a mess. Yet, Alma still remained the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. “I meant what I said earlier, about you.” He said breaking the comfortable silence between them.

Alma sat up on her bed and smoothed her soiled black dress out before looking back up at Bucky “I-I really like you, James.” She said and quickly looked down. Despite the fact that he obviously admitted his feelings to her through his actions, she was still hesitant to believe his words.

“Alma, Doll,” Bucky said and pushed her hair out of her face and tilted her chin up, so he locked eyes with her “I like you a lot too. You’re my good girl.” He said and smiled lightly before pulling her into his chest.

Her face turned red at Bucky’s words, reminding her of the events that had happened just moments earlier and buried her face in his chest that was sticky from sweat and sighed comfortably.

-

When Bucky woke up he looked down to see Alma still wrapped tightly in his arms, her bare shoulder poking out from under the sheets. He smiled and kissed it softly, his scruff scratching at her skin. She sighed sleepily and stirred rubbing her eyes and rolling over to face him “Morning, doll.” He said, his voice was raspy from sleeping.

“Morning.” Alma grinned and buried her face into his chest.

Bucky looked down and kissed the crown of her head “Come on, we should get breakfast.”  He reached over and grabbed his boxers from the floor and turned to see Alma covering herself with the covers “You’re beautiful doll.” He said standing up and tugging them on along with his jeans.

Alma frowned lightly “I mean, you look like that,” She said and motioned to his well build chest “And I look like-“

Before she could continue Bucky but her off “You look like the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen in my century of being alive?” He said smirking.

Alma’s face reddened, “Yeah I guess so.” She said and smiled; it was hard for her to accept his complements. She quickly dressed in a pair of pajamas and followed Bucky down to the kitchen.

All eyes were on them when they entered together “Well, looks like Buck is still in his clothes from last night.” Nat pointed out grinning and sipping on her coffee. “Pay up, boys.” She said and soon Sam, Tony, and Steve slapped a ten-dollar bill into her hands each.

Bucky faked being hurt and put his hand on his chest upon seeing his friend lose the bet with Nat “Really, Steve?” He asked.

Steve shrugged his shoulders “I didn’t think you still had it in you.” Steve answered honestly.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi my loves! So I’ve been really stressed out, so I wrote this angst-filled chapter and I’m not sorry for it. Anywho I hope you enjoy it. There will be two chapters to come which includes the epilogue. Sorry for the angst babes.
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> Warnings: ANGST, Sad!Bucky, blood, injury, torture.

_1 year later_

Alma blinked rapidly and shook her head to try and steady her shaky vision. She looked around and saw she was in a small room and tugged at her wrists only to be met by the bite of the metallic restraints into her skin. “Guys?” Alma said into her earpiece, hoping it would pick up.

“Alma? Where the hell are you?” Bucky’s voice sounded panicked on the other side.

“I don’t know. My head hurts and I’m strapped to this fucking chair.” She huffed and started pulling again.

“Alma, baby, keep talking we are going to try and track you through the headset. Stark, Bruce and Viz are on it.” Bucky’s voice was shaky with panic He held his hands on either side of his head and he sat crouched in the dirt. They were on a mission in some little country in Eastern Europe. He had gone to check on Alma’s perch after Clint said he noticed movement near her station only to find the ground splattered lightly with blood and her missing.

The team, sans Tony, Bruce, and Vision, crowded the area listening to their headsets hearing the conversation between the two. “What do you see, anything, anything defining in the room?” Steve asked firmly.

Alma’s voice was staticky and breaking up on the other line “Come on Tony, we don’t have all damn day.” Steve shouted into the earpiece.

“We are working as fast as we can god damn it.” Tony’s face had sweat beating down it as he, Bruce and Vision worked furiously trying to hone in on the location.

-

Alma looked around, she couldn’t see anything around “I can’t see anything, it’s so fucking dark, but I hear stuff. I hear someone coming I’ll try to keep the conversation live.” Sweat was dripping down her face as a cliché single light hung above her and the heavy metal door opened with a long creak.

“I’m glad to see you are awake Ms. Pavel.” The voice had a thick Russian accent. “I was worried, you hit your head pretty hard.”

Alma frowned “You were the one who hit me in the head, asshole.” She hissed. She was not in the mood for whatever his game was.

Her captor wore a black hooded cover that shielded his face, it reminded her of those cheap Halloween costumes she saw children wearing. “Now, now. Is that any way to treat your host?”

Her brows furrowed “My host? You have me strapped to a chair.” She spat “You kidnapped me. You ambushed me, hit me over the head, and then took me to wherever we are.”

The mystery man shrugged his shoulders “Carrying you was quite a task… seeing as you are-”

“Fat? I know you don’t need to address the obvious.”

“You know, you have quite a mouth on you.” Her captor said and grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked it hard, causing the char she was strapped to, to creak and groan.

Alma’s head was tender from hitting it earlier; she hissed in pain and tried to tug away. “Ah, now she is quiet.”

“What do you want from me.” She asked

“I know who trained you, Alma Pavlov, I know what you have done.” He captor walked around in front of her chair and took his hood off and revealed a young face. He had to have been maybe 20 years old. Just barely. “Do you not know who I am?” He shouted in her face couching down.

She winced as spit sprinkled on her skin from the boy in front of her “I don’t know who the fuck you are.”

The boy’s face turned smug and he crossed his arms over his slender chest “I killed your siblings.” He said and grinned.

Alma blinked as she heard Steve shouting in her ear to not engage. She furrowed her brows and shook her head trying to wrap her head around the words the boy just spoke to her. Her eyes shut and the sound of her siblings screaming and the feeling of their blood splattering on her face filled her mind. She felt sick, she felt rage, her mind was swimming with emotions “I killed you.” She said softly “I saw it, I know I did.” Her words were articulate.

The boy shook his head and lifted up his shirt to reveal an angry ugly scar that ran along his side “You didn’t. You shot me.” He said and pulled up his pant leg and revealed a prosthetic metallic leg instead of a flesh one “And you blew my fucking leg off.” He lunged forward and pulled a knife out and pressed it against her neck. A smooth trickle of blood dripped down Alma’s neck as his hot breath blew against her face “Now. I am going to kill you, finish off that dirty Polak bloodline.” His face twisted into a sickeningly proud smile.

-

Bucky’s blood ran cold when he heard the boy’s words. Kill her? Kill his Alma? The only girl that would give him a second look. The girl who just weeks earlier talked about having a family with him and retiring from their line of work. He shook his head and his face contorted with pain. Clint walked over to Bucky and put a hand on his shoulder “Take your earpiece out.” He said locking eyes with Bucky’s.

Bucky’s eyes welled up with tears. In his decade of being programmed to kill, he hadn’t shed a single tear. But here the girl that he loved had the potential to be ripped from him by this kid. “Take out your god damn earpiece Barnes.” Clint reached for the side of his head and Bucky moved quickly out of the way and shoved Clint to the ground.

Steve put his hands out trying to maintain space between Bucky and himself. His eyes went from heartbreak to pure uncut rage “Buck, you need to keep a clear head.” He said and held his palm out “You need to hand me your headset, you don’t need to hear what could happen.”

Bucky’s chest felt tight and he shook his head “No,” He said sharply “Don’t fucking touch me.” He said stepping away from Steve’s hand.

Steve kept his eyes on Bucky and licked his lips nervously “How is that tracking going Stark?” He asked.

Tony’s voice was focused “I got a general location, you can head there while I get the specific location. She is located at the building on the far end of the building we are at.” He said, “I need to access their floor schematics to see if they have any blank spaces for hidden rooms.”

Bucky gripped Steve’s shoulders through his uniform “You have to let me come, Steve.” His voice sounded helpless.

Steve looked at his friend, he was so vulnerable. Nat silently shook her head trying to tell Steve nothing good could come from him tagging along, but Steve decided the opposite “Fine. But I swear to go, Buck, if you get out of control-”

“I won’t.” Bucky snapped. Offended that his friend would even fear that his HYDRA side would still be an issue.

-

Alma’s eyes narrowed at her captor “Fucking cut me I dare you.” She said and spat in his face.  The boy wiped the spit from his eyes and drug his razor-sharp blade against the smooth skin of her cheek and she hissed in pain. “You won’t break me.” She said wincing at the sting. She licked her lips and tasted the blood that had begun to trickle down her face.

“I don’t want to break you, you, dumb bitch, I am going to kill you.” He said and wound up, backhanding her.

A crisp slap rang through the air and caused loud feedback in her earpiece. She blinked rapidly as her vision blurred. Her teeth cut into her cheek at the impact and her mouth began to fill with blood.

“I am going to kill you slowly. You don’t deserve to die quickly like your brothers and sisters.” He let out a soft laugh before he dug his blade sharply into her shoulder, it wasn’t deep, but it was painful.

She jerked her shoulder causing the blade to slip and cut the sleeve of her arm and screamed out in pain. “You stupid, piece of shit!” She hissed “My family didn’t die quickly.” Tears began to well up in her eyes “I watched them, I held my baby sister as she took her last breath. She told me how she couldn’t feel her legs and was scared.” Alma shook her head remembering her sister Julia’s snow-white skin was stained red as Alma held her. Her lap was black from cradling her sister’s wounded body trying to provide the last little bit of comfort for her in her state of panic. Her brother Teodor had been shot right through the head and had his skull blown out. Alma could remember how each and every one of her siblings died.

The boy slapped her again “I was fighting for my country!” He yelled. She actually felt sorry for the boy in front of her, he was just a brainwashed child soldier. The product of a war-torn country, like she was. He shook his head “You killed children that day. Don’t you remember.” He said and clicked his tongue against his teeth as he lightly drug the knife down her arm, leaving her hair standing on end. Alma felt sick, whether it was from the memory of her siblings’ death, having to kill child soldiers, of the bleeding from her shoulder, didn’t matter. She clenched her teeth; Isaac Hunt did not train her to be weak. He trained her to be able to withstand the worst torture but constantly bringing her to the brink of death and then back again. As much as she despised him, she was thankful she was prepared for moments like this.

She opened her mouth to speak but was met with her captor sinking his blade into her side near her ribs. She screamed and began to cough, causing the blood from her mouth the splatter on her pants and on the kid cutting her. Her head began to feel as though all oxygen had been cut off, she couldn’t register sound, except for the ringing in her ears. She looked down and saw her body drenched in blood; her skin seemed to gray, and she struggled to breathe gasping as if each breath would be her last. Her head slumped forward and rolled back and forth while she struggled to keep it up. She had to hold on.

The boy cupped her face soothingly and he laughed loudly in it “Oh, no, no, I’m not going to let you go this quickly.” He stepped away and came back plunging a needle into her arm and injecting her with a fluid. Alma’s head shot up and her pupils dilated as a sudden surge of energy ran through her veins. She let out a growl as she tugged against her restraints harder and harder causing them to cut into her skin and allowing little pinpricks of blood to flow out. “Oh, and she lives!” He said slapping a crisp and hearty backhand across her face. Her head jerked to one side and she felt her eye begin to swell and squint shut.

-

The team listened to Alma’s screams ringing through the earpieces made their efforts work as fast as possible all while Bucky struggled to maintain composure as he slowly began to succumb to his more primal thoughts. However as much as they disliked it, her screams were a sigh she was still alive while they were running as fast as they could to Alma’s location that Tony had given them.

-

The sudden surge of adrenaline caused her heart to pump blood through her body faster, leading Alma to begin to rapidly lose energy as her torture continued. Her legs, hands, arms, and torso were riddled with cuts and deep stab wounds and she began to bleed out. Her head lolled back and forth, and a string of mucus and blood dripped down from her nose as she took another slap from her captor. She had to hold on, she had to do it. “You can’t do it. She said whispering and huffing for breath.

The boy stepped back observing his handy work and patted her head “I beg to differ.” He said plunging the blade into her side once more. Alma didn’t think she had enough air in her lungs to scream, but her body writhed back, arching in pain while she let out a cry. Her chest began to feel tight and her vision was spotty. A sea of blurry figures stormed into the small room and she watched as a large dark figure snapped her captor’s neck in a near 180 and they surrounded her.

“Alma!” Bucky said quickly running to her side. He quickly ripped the metal restraints off her wrists and feet and carefully laid her on the ground. He looked down at his hands and they were stained red with blood. He shook his head and watched Alma blinking rapidly until a small hint of familiarity glazed over them

“Buck?” She said softly and tried to reach up and cup his face.

Bucky held her hands at her side “Shh, come on doll, don’t move. Wanda needs to fix you up.” He said.

Her face was beaten, and her body was riddled with cuts and the floor was covered in her blood and soaked through his tactical pants. Steve pulled him away “Come on Buck, you need to move.” He didn’t budge “God damn it Bucky, you need to let them in so they can help her.” Steve said pulling his friend up.

Bucky stumbled once he reached his feet and he looked down at his clothes that were now soaked. Clint and Natasha quickly grabbed him and pulled him out of the room, he was blinking in disbelief “Alma…” He said shaking his head as tears began to slip down his face. He tried to wipe them away, but his eyes stung as her blood transferred from his hands to his face. He rubbed at his face trying to get it off he paused and looked into his reflection in the metallic door glassy eyes, he was covered in it. He sank to his knees and put his head in his hands and let out a defeated sob.

Steve came out and saw his friends defeated state and crouched down at his side. Bucky looked up red eyes “Is she okay, Steve? Please tell me she’s going to be okay.”

His friend reached around and pulled his friend into a tight hug as he mumbled the question over and over into Steve’s now blood and tear-soaked suit. Steve squeezed his friend as tightly as he could, fearful that Bucky would implode from his emotions. “We had one of Tony’s jets take her out to Dr. Cho’s lab.” He said softly.

Bucky tugged away from his friend “I want to go.”

Steve shook his head “Buck, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to-”

“I said. I want to go with Steve, take me there.” He didn’t care about cleaning off or getting rest, he just wanted to be with Alma.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry I havent been on in forever. I just started classes and my senior year at university! So that is exciting and really driving me fucking insane. Anywho enjoy this chapter; I really love hearing from you all in the comments and seeing all your Kudos!

White. The waiting room for loved ones was a blinding white color.

It was a stark contrast to Bucky’s current state, soaked in blood, hair clumped and crusted to his face and streaky columns that ran down his face from tears.

His eyes were glazed over, and he stared blankly at the crisp clean white wall in front of him while the soft beeps and machine sounds lulled in the background. The machines that kept Alma alive. His Alma, the girl that was finally going to give him the white picket fence and dog he had so desperately hoped for.

The sound of rushing footsteps startled him from his daze and he saw a heard of nurses and medical staff run into a room, it was Alma’s room. He bolted up and ran over only to be blocked by Steve’s arms holding him back and firmly wrapped around his waist “Buck you need to let them work.”

  
“What is happening? Is Alma okay.?” His voice was frantic, and he struggled against Steve’s grip and growled prying at his arms.

“James.” He snapped “I said don’t go in there, stay away.” He held tightly against his friend.

The use of his first name stirred him, Steve rarely ever used it unless he was deathly serious. The sound of Bucky’s arm whirring and fighting against Steve’s super soldier strength; however, it was no match for Bucky’s bionic arm. Bucky broke free and lunged forward, running into the hospital room.

Alma laid on the hospital bed, her eyes softly shut, and her head was slumped to one side. Her peaceful state was significantly different from the environment around her. Doctors and nurses barked orders at each other and equipment was handed around frantically. Bucky finally registered what had been going on when he looked at the heart monitor.

A flat unchanging line flashed on the EKG monitor and he felt his stomach drop “Alma?” His voice croaked as he pushed his way into the cramped and chaotic hospital room “Alma?” He said louder reaching her hospital bed and grasping her bloodied hand.

He dropped it, startled, it was icy cold like there hadn’t been blood flowing through her body in hours. Bucky’s chest began to constrict, and his mind was flooded by the dark memories that Alma’s smile had blocked out “No, no, no, no.” He muttered.

His knees felt shaky and his face flushed as Steve grasped him once again tugging him out of the room “No! Let go, I need to be with her!” He clawed and fought against Steve’s strong grip. He held on the door jam and pulled himself forward, the shear strength between he and Steve working at opposite ends of force caused the door frame to crack flinging Bucky backward and knocking Steve down

“Bucky?” Steve said scrambling to his feet and grasping his friend’s shoulders “Bucky!” He shouted louder. “Buck!”

Bucky gasped and shot up, looking around “Jesus Christ.” He huffed grasping at his chest. Thank god, it was just a nightmare.

Steve looked down at Bucky, confused “You okay?” He asked softly.

“Yeah,” He gulped down air, desperately trying to catch his breath “Yeah, just a nightmare.” He shook his head running his hands through his hair tugging at the dried clumps of blood he had forgotten about. Bucky looked over at Alma whose face, and body had been cleaned of any blood and her wounds dressed and sighed shaking his head. “I need to clean off a bit.” He said abruptly standing up and walking to the bathroom.

The dull florescent lighting flickered on and he stood in front of the mirror marveling at his current state. He ran the water hot, he couldn’t stand cold water and cupped his hands while he splashed water on his face. The water and sink were soon stained brown while he cleared his face. Bucky frowned and made a face in the mirror, he wasn’t totally cleaned off, but it was good enough.

When he left Dr. Cho was in the room checking the equipment and Alma’s vitals as she slept. “When is she going to wake up?” Dr. Cho opened her mouth to respond but was quickly cut off “When are you going to start the skin graphing?” hundreds of questions flooded his mind and he stammered trying to think of his words.

But before he could continue Dr. Cho spoke “Mr. Barnes, we need to let her rest for the next few days, she has sustained multiple traumatic wounds and exposing her body to that level of rapid repair could kill her. As for waking up I would give it a few days, she needs her rest.”

A few days? Bucky sighed, disappointed, “Okay.” He said and sat back down in the uncomfortable hospital chairs.

“I can bring you down a hospital cot if you choose to spend the night here with her.” Dr. Cho offered, she knew he was worried, anyone could see it in his disheveled state.

Bucky chewed on his lip “I’m probably not going to sleep but thank you for the offer.”

Steve frowned “He will take the bed.” He said watching Dr. Cho walk out of the room. He flashed a glare at Bucky and continued to have his deep frown plastered on his face “Buck, you need to get some rest and change your damn clothes.” He said motioning to Bucky’s blood-stained clothing and throwing a backpack at him.

Bucky rubbed his hands on his tactical pants, they were crunchy from the dried blood that had soaked into them. The backpack lightly hit his knees and fell to the ground and he frowned, looking down at the black bag at his feet.

Steve was right, and Buck knew it; Alma would have a cow seeing him in this state. He needed to at least look strong for when she woke up.

–

Six days passed, and Bucky had maybe slept a total of three hours, changed his clothes two times, and barely ate a full meal. Steve harped on him when he came in to check up on Buck every day to make sure he was taking care of himself while the doctors took care of Alma. “Jesus Bucky, have you changed your clothes at all today?” Steve asked looking at his disheveled friend up and down.

Bucky looked down at his tattered jeans “What? I changed them yesterday.”

Steve rolled his eyes, it seemed to be something frequent he was doing with his friend “Change your damn clothes, I gave you some for a reason.” He said plopping down on the chair and patting the neatly folded clothes on the spare table.

Bucky sighed and nodded his head, he needed to look nice in case Alma woke up today. It was the day before she went in for her skin regeneration procedure and even if she didn’t wake up today, she would surely wake up in the few days after that… Right?

Bucky quickly changed his clothes, washed his face, and walked out to smell something delicious wafting through the air. Sam stood in the doorway of the hospital room silently chatting with Steve. In his hands was a container foggy with steam; Sam grinned up at Bucky “Hey, I brought you some of my mama’s pot pie.” He shrugged his shoulders and set the container on the table “I figured it was better than the hospital food.”

“Thanks,” Bucky said giving Sam a curt nod, god he was so hungry, and he hadn’t even noticed it until now. He sat down and opened the container and stared at the lightly browned crust of the pot pie while the scent wafted through his nostrils. Something inside him felt guilty for wanting to eat while Alma was forced to be hooked up to machines that fed her nutrients in a milky colored liquid that was pumped into her body.

He looked at Steve as if to ask for permission, and Steve returned the look with a small nod before Bucky dug into the food with the fork Sam had so graciously included. After a few hours of small talk, both Sam and Steve left, and Bucky was alone with the only sound that accompanied him was the soft beeps of the machines keeping Alma alive.

He sat in the chair next to her hospital bed and gripped her hand tightly in his own, her hands were dry and cold which juxtaposed his sweaty and clammy hands. He sighed and rubbed little circles with his thumbs on the back of her palm and gave it a light squeeze. He jumped feeling her fingers twitch against his hand “Alma?” He asked pulling his hand back out of shock.

She scrunched her face up and licked her lips before she coughed dryly. Her throat felt like she had swallowed sandpaper. Bucky quickly stood up and pressed the little button to page Dr. Cho “Buck?” her voice croaked before she opened her eyes and blinked rapidly trying to clear out the blurry and blinding lights that flooded her sight.

“Shh,” Bucky said placing his hand back in hers “It’s okay I’m here.” His voice wavered but he maintained a firm face while inside he was struggling not to cry.

Within minutes the room flooded with nurses and doctors “She woke up.” Bucky said while being shoved out of the way so the doctors and nurses could do their checkup. He quickly walked out of the room and rang Steve.

“What? What’s wrong?” Steve asked panicked.

Bucky flopped down on one of the stiff hospital chairs in the waiting room and put his head in his hand “She woke up.” He said and let out a broken sob.

“I’m coming.” He said and hung up.

Bucky didn’t know what to do, he was flooded with emotions as tears freely spilled down his face while he sobbed into his hands. A firm hand grasped his shoulder and he looked up and looked at Steve with glassy eyes, what seemed like seconds was actually several minutes. “Come on, I think they are done checking up on her,” Steve said and gave Bucky’s shoulder a firm squeeze.

Bucky got up and walked back into the room, several of the occupants had left and only Dr. Cho and her assistant were in the room. Alma was sitting up in the hospital bed and gripping a cup of water while looking down at her lap. She craned her head over and looked at Bucky and grinned.

Bucky looked absolutely horrible, the bags underneath his blue eyes were black and they were sunken in and his hair was stringy and there were still bits of dried blood stuck on parts of his face. “Hi.” She said hoarsely.

Bucky smiled softly “Hey, doll.” He said and rubbed his hands on his face trying to clear the wetness from it.

Dr. Cho looked up from her clipboard and smiled at Bucky “I’m prepping her for surgery in two hours. She is healing remarkably well.”

Bucky nodded his head “And, uh, Clint went through this and was okay?” He asked looking nervous at the doctor.

She nodded her head “Yeah, he came out perfectly fine and just like I told him you won’t be able to feel the difference.” She said and smiled reassuringly.

Bucky frowned as the nurses came back in and prepped Alma for the procedure, he was a little bitter that he couldn’t spend more time with her. But he was happy she was finally awake. Seeing her hooked up to machines that kept her alive for several days was unnerving and he was at least slightly more at ease.   


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sad this is coming to an end! But I am pretty happy with how I wrapped it up. It is incredibly fluffy to deal with the last two chapters of being nearly pure angst. I hope you all enjoy!

Alma stood in front of the mirror and traced the angry lumpy scar that was on her shoulder and sighed turning around to Nat, Pepper, Wanda, Maria, and Hope “I don’t know guys,” she said looking down at herself and then looking back at the girls.

They gawked at her “Are you kidding me?” Nat asked, “She has to be kidding right?” She said looking over at Maria who was seated next to her.

“You can see my scars though…” she said looking at the mirrors that surrounded her body. The dress she was trying on flowed around her. She reached up and traced the delicate lace that ran along the neckline and ran her fingers over the delicate beads, then back up to the angry caterpillar scars along her shoulders and arms. “What about the long sleeved one?”

Pepper scrunched her nose up “You mean the one that made you look like an 80-year-old Victorian woman?” She asked “Alma, this is your wedding. You know for a fact you look gorgeous in this dress.” Pepper always knew how to tell it like it was.

Hope took a sip of the complimentary champagne they were given and nodded her head in agreement “Alma, this day isn’t about what other people think of you. It’s about what you feel the best in.”

Alma nodded her head and looked at herself in the mirror once more the corset back perfectly hugged her curves and the off the shoulder sweetheart neckline perfectly shaped her breasts and arms. It really did fit wonderfully, and the fabric wasn’t too heavy, so she wouldn’t need too much help using the bathroom. “I don’t know still. Can we go get sushi and decide after?” she asked.

All of the girls jumped at the idea of food and had the woman helping them hold the dress until they came back later. Alma looked down at her plate and sighed, the food wasn’t bad, she was just nervous. She had never expected herself to be getting married; she always imagined her life as her being a hired assassin and killing people. It was as simple as that.

But when Bucky came along, that simplicity was thrown out the window, and when she was kidnapped and almost died? That simple life she wanted was also long gone.

Almost dying causes you to have somewhat of a sense of humility and appreciation for life. She found it harder and harder to pull the trigger and found herself becoming more emotional when she had to defuse landmines some unfortunate person stepped on. Going back into the field was a nightmare for the first year after her recovery period. She had a full year of rest, per Tony’s orders, and then she was allowed back into the field.

For the first four months of her recovery, she spent most of her time sulking in bed. Depressed at what her past had caused her, angry for causing so much pain towards people she loved the most. Clint constantly hovered over her when Bucky wasn’t able to be around, making sure she did simple things like ate and showered on a semi-regular basis.

They talked a lot, Clint opened up about his past with Loki and being brainwashed. He talked about how he was sent to kill Nat but instead recruited her. He tried to comfort her as much as possible because he also knew the pain of hurting those closest to you.

“I have to make a call, I’ll be right back,” Alma said snapping out of thought and quickly shoving a tuna roll into her mouth and getting up.

She opened her contacts and clicked on Clint’s name, the phone rang twice before he picked up “Hey? What’s up? The ladies becoming unbearable?” He asked with a hearty chuckle.

Alma sighed “No, I… I just need some help.” She said softly. Never in a million years did she think she would be asking Hawkeye for advice on her wedding dress, yet here she was “So, we were shopping for dresses right? But I just… I hate how I look in everything.”

Clint let out a sympathetic dad sigh “Send me the pictures.” He said. She could hear the small comforting smile in his voice.

“Okay, hold on.” She said and looked through the camera roll and sent him a picture of the dress.

“You don’t think you look good in this?” Clint asked in disbelief on the phone.

Alma pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed “You can see all of my scars all over my arms and shoulders.” She said biting her lip hard.

She could almost hear Clint rolling his eyes “Alma no one is going to be looking at your scars, trust me. Do you think we would be the Avengers if we didn’t have any ourselves?” He asked, “Every bump, spot, scar, stretch mark on your body tells a story of how you got to where you are today.”

Alma chewed on her lip nervously biting at the dead skin and nodded her head to herself “Thank you, Clint.” She said softly “I have to go back to the girls now, they are probably wondering where I am.” She said and smiled softly.

Clint let out a small laugh “Good luck, going tux shopping wasn’t nearly as long as this sounds.” He said sarcastically and hung up.

Alma went back to the table and took her place back near Pepper and Nat and joined in their conversation “You know, Viz tries so hard to cook for me, but he doesn’t have any taste buds so anytime he makes food I have to pretend to like it.” Wanda said letting out a small laugh “He’s so sweet, I just don’t have the heart to tell him otherwise.”

Hope let out a snort “Scott is the same way, he can’t cook a decent meal to save his life. He somehow manages to light everything on fire.” Hope laughed shaking her head and laughed, “What about Buck, is he husband material?” She asked curiously.

All of the girls quieted down and turned, looking at Alma. Alma shifted nervously “Ah, I mean...” she let out a small smirk “Bucky loves to bake.” She said grinning and looking at the girls “I’m talking killer pies, cookies, brownies, you name it.” She shook her head laughing to herself “Whenever he can’t sleep, he just bakes all night to keep his mind clear.”

Nat’s eyes widened “No way!” She said leaning back in her chair “I thought I knew everything about him, but it seems like his bride to be knows more.” She said grinning “I’m impressed.”

Together the girls finished their sushi and went back to the boutique. Alma sighed in the fitting room tugging nervously at the lace sleeves that hugged her upper arms before she walked out and stood in front of the mirror. She looked at herself once more and thought of Clint’s words. They echoed in her mind as her eyes traced over her exposed skin.

She looked at the stretch marks on her arms and that were at the top of her breasts, the angry keloid scars that peppered her arms, neck, and shoulder, the permanent white line on the corner of her lip. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before she turned around and looked at her friends. Alma let out a soft smile while looking at them “Oh, Alma.”  Pepper cooed.

Alma could finally see what they were talking about the first time they were here. She quickly waved over the associate to mark that dress down as a yes.

To say the following weeks were chaotic was an understatement. Despite Tony insisting on a wedding planner helping, Alma still felt overwhelmed by the number of things to do even in the next 48 hours. Tonight, was the rehearsal dinner, and if it were up to Tony, like he was secretly hoping, they would have an army or planners, designers, decorators, cooks, the whole nines. But Alma insisted on having one planner despite it being one of the largest superhero events the United States had seen in a number of years.

Alma ran a hand through her hair as Hope zipped up the cocktail dress she was dressed in for the rehearsal dinner “What even is the point of this?” Alma asked nervously smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles on her dress “A predinner before the actual dinner? Who the hell needs two big events for their wedding? Can’t people just come to one event?” She continued blabbing her mouth before Nat interrupted her.

“Don’t worry Alms, Cherise is making sure everything is running smoothly.” Natasha told her while squeezing her shoulders.

“I know… I know… I just wanted something small and simple.” She said trailing off “I’m not really one for big flashy to do’s.”

Pepper crossed her legs in the chair she was sitting in in the hotel room “I know, but for Tony, this is small and simple.”

She played with the ends of her hair, she still had no idea who would walk her down the aisle. She had no parents or immediate relatives at all. She ran over the list of people she could ask in her head. There was Steve, but he was Bucky’s best man. There were Sam and Thor, but they were also standing up in the wedding along with Tony and Bruce. She ran through everyone participating in the wedding party, down to the ushers and noticed someone was missing.

Clint Barton had no role in her wedding. Nearly everyone who had significance to her had a part in her wedding except for him. During the dinner she excused herself from her guests and walked up to Clint who greeted her with a hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek “You look as amazing as ever, Alms.” He said grinning. Quirking his head to one side he spoke “What’s up, you only make that face when you are hiding something.” He said poking her in the shoulder.

Alma teetered back on her heels and rocked forward “Do you want to walk me down the aisle?” She asked bluntly.

Clint’s face spread with the dopiest grin and he nodded his head “Of course Alms,” He said pulling her into a warm embrace “It’s an honor, honestly.” He said putting a hand to his chest and still grinning.

Alma rolled her eyes and playfully shoved him “You are so dramatic.” She joked.

She made her way back through the crowd of people in the dance floor where Bucky greeted her with a soft kiss on the shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist while slowly swaying to the music. He hummed against her skin “You are absolutely gorgeous, doll, you know that.” He said softly.

Alma’s face flushed “That’s about the millionth time you’ve said it tonight.” She said craning her neck to kiss his cheek.

Bucky leaned into her touch and smiled “You know, doll, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the night without you.” He said, she could tell he had that sly cheeky grin spreading across his face. Bucky turned her around and leaned his chin on her head “You know what? You look good enough to eat, baby doll.” He whispered slyly in her ear.

Alma’s face heated up and she put her hands on his chest and looked up at him “You’ll have to wait for dessert tomorrow, Sergeant.”

Bucky playfully looked hurt “Oh come on, now that is mean.” 

Alma shrugged her shoulders “I’m sure you will survive on night without me.” She said and leaned her head on his shoulder.

Bucky sighed and continued his playful banter “I don’t know, baby girl” He said and lightly gripped her hips as they danced, “There is just something about these hips and thighs that do unholy things to man.” He said grinning with boyish charm.

Alma shook her head and pursed her lips. Her face was flushed, and her heart was racing “Oh trust me Buck, I know.” She said she ran a hand down the buttons of his shirt, ever so lightly touching the fabric “You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow night,” She quirked an eyebrow and turned away from him to sit back at the table.

Bucky grinned and shook his head “Oh... that is just cruel, don’t think I’ll forget about this tomorrow.” He said jokingly as she walked away with a saunter in her hips that caused a shiver to run down his spine.

Steve walked up and gripped his friend’s shoulder tightly “I think you found yourself a keeper, Buck. She left you speechless in your own game.”

That night the bridal party slept in Alma’s suite while the groomsmen stayed in Bucky’s. For a lot of the girls in that room, it was their first ever sleep over. So, in a way it was… wholesome.

They all crammed around the TV their faces slathered in this clay mud that Pepper had brought and ordered a slew of food while they talked over a movie they weren’t watching and drank wine. “So Alma…” She could tell by Nat’s tone that she was going to pry, “Tell us, how is it?”

Alma’s face heated “The pizza? Great! I told you guys this place had the best-”

“No, you know what I mean.” All the girls hushed and watched her, awaiting her answer like a group of eager school girls.

“Oh god, guys really?” She asked trying to hide her red face.

“Yeah! Come on spill!” Wanda pried.

“I bet he goes down like a champ.” Hope quipped.

Alma covered her face “Oh my gosh he does!” Pepper said loudly and the group of girls all erupted in laughter.

Alma took her hands from her face “Well… Let’s just say being brainwashed for 70 years means a lot of catching up to do.” She said grinning. Oh boy did it, Bucky wanted to try anything and everything. The very thought of how experimental made her face redden even more.

“I always knew he was freakier of the two boys.” Nat said referring to Steve.

Grinning, Alma nodded her head “Yeah, it’s never a dull moment with Buck.”

Maria looked up from the bottle of wine she was pouring into her cup and smirked “Does he use the metal arm?” she asked.

“Oh, of course.” Alma confessed. It was hard to get him to warm up to the idea of him using his arm for anything sexual. It had so many dark memories attached to it he was terrified he couldn’t control his strength when using it. Her skin would get caught in the grooves as he would twist and pinch at her nipples and cause her to yelp or gasp in pain and that was enough to get him to stop for the whole night. It was something that they worked to overcome together and at his own pace. But dear lord when he began to become comfortable with his metal arm, it could do things normal men wished they could do.

If Alma thought yesterday was chaotic, the day of the wedding was even more chaotic. She sat at the desk in her suit while Cherise was on the phone with the florists “What do you mean my clients bouquet wasn’t ordered? I don’t care that you need to make orders a month in advance, do you know who I am planning this wedding for?” She continued to argue with the florist while her assistant Amy scrambled about trying to make sure everything was in place for the ceremony. Alma held her head in her hands and groaned softly as she could hear Cherise continuing to argue with the florist and the next with the live music. She was a sweetheart, but when it came down to business, you did not want to get in her way. “Don’t worry, sugar, we’re going to get everything figured out. This will be perfect.”

The whole day went as though it was a blur, somehow, she ended up seated in front of 3 makeup artists, that she didn’t know were hired and sat back as they rushed making sure her hair was done perfectly, and her make was on point. She asked for simple and elegant and surprisingly enough, that was what they gave her. Nat, Wanda, Maria, Pepper, and Hope were ready and waiting for her in the bedroom to help her with the dress. Nat laced up her corset and pulled it tighter and tighter “Jesus, Nat, I already feel like I’m going to pass out from all of this, ease up.” She said tugging at the neckline of her dress trying to loosen it.

“I’m trying to make sure you don’t fall out and it doesn’t slip.” Nat said tying it.

A set of nice white heels were laid out along with her jewelry for the wedding, “Come on, sit I need to help you buckle these up.” Pepper said grabbing the shoes.

Alma shook her head “Where are my boots?” She asked.

Hope grinned in support “Your tactical boots?”

Alma nodded her head “I don’t want to wear those I’ll break my neck.”

Quickly she dug through her suitcase and found thick boot socks and her dirty and scuffed boots and slipped them on with ease “You can’t even see them under the dress.” Alma said looking down at her feet.

A knock at the door interrupted them from their chatter. Nat walked over and looked in the peep hole and grinned, opening the door “You clean up nicely, Barton.” She said admiring how her partner looked in his tux.

Clint tugged at his collar “I feel like this is choking me.” He huffed “I can take down troupes of people without even getting within 80 yards, but I can’t manage to walk a girl down the aisle for her wedding.” He said smirking.

Nat grinned “Come on, you can loosen it up at the reception.” She said grabbing his hand and walking him into the bedroom where Alma was finishing up.

“Wow Alma,” Clint said grinning and pulling her into a full embrace. “I think the nicest thing I’ve ever seen you in is when you got brand-new field gear.” He said laughing.

Alma playfully rolled her eyes, “You know, I never thought I’d see myself like this either.” She said grinning.

“You ready to head down? I think if I hear Cherise yell about one more thing I’m going to blow a gasket.” Clint grinned back.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Alma said inhaling deeply and letting out a large huff of air.

Cherise met them down in the banquet hall in the hotel and handed Alma a beautiful bouquet of flowers “I finally got them for you along with all of the other ones we agreed on. Turns out, if you go to their competition with Tony Stark’s credit card they practically empty out the whole shop.”

Alma nodded her head and looked down at the flowers, oranges, reds, purples, and browns filled the bouquet “Thank you Cherise, I really appreciate all of the hard work you did.”

Cherise grinned “You can thank me when the night is over. We still have a lot to do.”

The wedding party filed out as the music played and Clint occupied Alma in the back room away from the crowd until Cherise came and got them “Alma, you really do look beautiful.” Clint said feeling a small sense of pride in his chest for being able to walk her down the aisle.

Alma shifted nervously as she heard the music playing, she knew her part was close “Thank you, Clint, I honestly can’t thank you enough.”

Clint flipped the veil over her face and smiled softly “You know when you walk, it sounds like a herd of elephants, what the hell are you wearing on your feet?” He asked. The two erupted in laughter as Alma flashed him he tactical boots, “Of course you would.”

Cherise popped her head into the side room and winked “Your time to shine, sugar.” She said and held the door open while Clint offered her an elbow and they began to walk out.

Bucky nervously watched the door as it opened, and the crowd rose; when he caught a glimpse of his bride to be his breath hitched in his throat. It was like he was seeing her all over again for the first time. He stared, not wanting to miss a moment and swallowed thickly. This was it, this was really happening to him. He was getting married after nearly a century of thinking he could never return to the life he wanted, with a white picket fence, children, and a dog running in the yard. Yet here he was, Steve at his side along with his other friends and watching the most beautiful woman in the room walk down the aisle.

Alma felt like she was walking at an agonizingly slow pace but was thankful for Clint holding her back from speed walking up to Bucky. Everyone watched, and cameras flashed while Alma made her way down.

 Clint stopped as soon as they reached the end and lifted her veil “Knock ‘em dead.” He said smiling softly. Alma swallowed thickly and pulled Clint into a tight hug before turning towards Bucky.

He stared at her with his mouth hanging open, Alma shifted and looked down at her feet before she whispered with a small smile “Close your mouth you’ll catch flies.”

Bucky closed his mouth and grinned “James Buchanan Barnes” The pastor said snapping him out of his thoughts, they hadn’t noticed that they had moved through their vows and the rings were presented by Scott’s daughter, Cassie. Bucky took one of the rings in his hand and gripped your hand tightly. For the first time, his palm was sweaty from nervousness as he slipped it on to your finger “I do.” He said still holding your hand.

You took your free one “Alma Vivian Pavlov,” your head, swimming with thoughts caused the remaining words that he said to be drowned out “I do.” You said and slipped the ring on.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife-” the pastor tried to finish his little speech but was cut off by Bucky eagerly grabbing your waste and placing a passionate yet chaste kiss on your lips. He lingered for a second and you smiled into the kiss.

The reception, well it was an Avenger’s party. Everyone and anyone who had been affiliated with the Avengers at some point had been invited and there was enough food to feed an army. Alma sat at the wedding party table and laughed at the speech Steve gave about Bucky, reminiscing about the times before the war and talking about the new memories they have made together and at the stories Nat told about her when she first joined the team, like when she accidentally shrank Thor’s shirts in the wash. The thoughts of Alma’s family not being able to see this day weren’t present in her head. She had found a new family in her team.

Alma drug Bucky by his arm to the dance floor “Come on!” She said grinning.

Bucky snaked his arms around her waist as they swayed to the music together “I’m getting a little eager for dessert.” Bucky said smirking.

Alma looked behind her “We don’t cut the cake until a little later.” She said and looked back. Bucky huffed and laughed “Just don’t rip my dress tonight.” She said standing on her tiptoes and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“No promises.” Bucky said softly in her ear.

“I don’t mean to break up the sweet nothings, but can I steal Alms for dance?” Clint asked, snapping them both out of their own little world.

Bucky nodded his head “Of course, be my guest.” He said switching placed with Clint. “So, how does it feel knowing you are married to that goon?” he asked nodding his head over to Bucky and Steve who were play fighting each other over the last roll at the dinner station.

Alma smiled at Clint “You know? It honestly feels a lot better than I thought it would.” She glanced over Clint’s shoulder at Natasha who talking with Wanda “What about you two?” She asked.

Clint’s movement paused for a moment “Who? Me and Nat?” He asked “Nah, we… we aren’t the marrying type.” He said shaking his head “We… uh… aren’t even officially together.”

Alma pulled back and looked at him “What do you mean? You two don’t shut up about each other.” The song ended and Alma and Cint parted “You better snatch her up before you regret it, Barton.” She said and lightly nudged him “Ask her to dance for the next song.”

Clint looked down at his feet and back up at his friend “Alright, I’ll do it just for you.”

The feedback from the microphone caused everyone in the room to grumble. Two loud thumps tapped against the microphone “Hey? Is this on?” Tony asked. “Okay, good, so if we could have the Mister and misses come up to cut the cake that would be great.”

Bucky walked up to Alma “Come on,”

Alma followed next to him “So did you win the roll?” She asked, Bucky didn’t respond, and she noticed a small stain on the lapel of his suit coat “Oh come on, Barnes.” She said and playfully frowned.

Bucky shrugged as if to ask what he did wrong. They reached the table and cut the came together. Bucky grabbed his piece and pulled Alma in for a kiss, but smeared frosting on the side of her face instead. She gasped and laughed, scrunching her nose up and wiping the glob off. “You’re in for it now.” She said pointing at him “It’ll come when you least expect it.”

And oh boy was she right, in order to refrain from an all-out food war between the team at the reception, she couldn’t retaliate with something bigger. They would cause chaos, so she came up behind Buck and wiped a hand full of frosting on him while he was mid-conversation with Bruce about upgrading some of the specs on his arm.

Alma squealed “Bucky, put me down!” She said squirming in his arms.

“Oh, come on, a groom has got to carry his bride into their room on their wedding night.” He said grinning and plopping her down on the bed.

“Stop,” She said trying to wiggle away from him laughing “I’m too hea-” she was cut off by Bucky planting a firm kiss on her lips.

“Don’t say that you’re gorgeous.” He said pushing her hair out of her face, “Alms, I love you so much, I can’t stand it when you talk badly about yourself.” He said softly while peppering little kissed down her neck. She flinched away from his kiss when he brushed against the raised scars on her shoulder and neck “I love every part of you.” He said and rubbed his face into her neck and buried his face into her hair “Alma, I don’t know what I would have done if I would have lost you that night.” His voice cracked as he held her impossibly close.

Alma pulled away and cupped his face with her hands as she rested her forehead on them. Their room was silent and the only sound was their soft breathing “Let’s not think about that,” She said and kissed his forehead tenderly “We have forever together.”


End file.
